


Broken

by Three_Eyed_Crow



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bran and Jojen are stoners, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-07-24 00:29:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 32,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20017276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Three_Eyed_Crow/pseuds/Three_Eyed_Crow
Summary: Bran wakes up after a horrific snowboarding accident that has left him paralysed from the waist down.On the road to recovery, he finds himself falling in love with his best friend's sister.





	1. Waking Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! I don't plan on this work being toooo long (I'll mention my plans for it at the end of this chapter), but it might end up becoming part of a wider Modern Westeros AU series if I feel up to it.

Bran woke up, feeling very confused and disoriented. He looked around the room he was in. _Where am I?_ he mused. This wasn’t his bedroom at home.

It took a minute for him to get his bearings. His head felt foggy, almost as if he was in a dream or something.

“Hello?”, he croaked out. His voice was dry and raspy.

No-one answered.

Soon enough he had his wits about him and recognised that he was in a hospital bed. _What happened to me?_ Bran thought. There were tubes in his nose, wires and stickers on his chest and a needle sticking into his right arm. All he wore was a hospital gown which, if he was being honest, didn’t do much to cover his body. At least he had some shorts on.

That’s when he realised… his legs…

Bran started to panic, his breathing becoming quicker and quicker. The corners of his vision began to blur as he came to the realisation that he couldn’t feel his legs. He tried to wiggle toes but couldn’t do that either.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck_ , Bran panicked. _Shit, what… how… why…?_ The thoughts raced through his head.

The monitor next to him was beeping rapidly. A heart rate monitor, Bran realised. He tried to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down, but if the beeps were anything to go by then it wasn’t working.

“Hello?!”, Bran called, louder this time, although his voice still hurt like all seven hells.

A nurse burst into the room.

“Gods”, the nurse whispered, “you’re awake”.

“Help”, Bran responded weakly.

“Stay here”, the nurse said. _As if I can go anywhere_ , Bran thought bitterly. “I’ll get the doctor”, the nurse continued, before bolting back out of the room.

Seconds later the nurse returned with a doctor.

“Hello, Bran. My name is Dr Luwin”, the doctor introduced himself. Bran vaguely remembered that Dr Luwin was the Stark family’s go-to doctor.

“Hi”, Bran replied, not really sure what else to say.

“How much can you remember?”, Dr Luwin asked. He had a calming presence, which made Bran feel a lot more at ease.

“Nothing”, Bran answered honestly.

“Nothing at all?”, Dr Luwin questioned.

“I mean, I don’t remember how I got here. I know who I am and everything”, Bran clarified.

“Good, so it seems like you don’t have amnesia, but we will have to conduct some tests just to make sure”, Dr Luwin spoke, partly to Bran and partly to the nurse who was scribbling down some notes. “You were in an accident, Bran”, Dr Luwin continued, “you were snowboarding up in the Frostfangs”.

Bits and pieces started to come back to Bran. He definitely remembered that he’d gone up north on a trip with the Reeds. It had been just after the New Year, he recalled. Bran had spent Christmas with his family at home. His birthday was on Christmas day, and he’d just turned 16. As a birthday/Christmas present, his best friends Jojen and Meera had arranged to take him on a trip up to the Frostfangs. _It’s the best time of year for it_ , Jojen had said, _the slopes will be perfect_. Bran had asked his parents if he could go. His mother wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea, but father had convinced her to let him go. He was 16, after all. When Robb was sixteen, he’d been allowed to go on holiday to Volantis with his girlfriend Jeyne.

 _What will mother think now?_ Bran thought sadly to himself. She’d feel extremely guilty for ever letting him go.

Bran remembered that him and Jojen had been snowboarding together. Meera had gone off by herself to go skiing, leaving the two boys to themselves. _Will you be alright? Call me if you need anything_ , Meera had said. Her parents had put her in charge of taking care of the boys during the trip.

Bran wondered where Jojen and Meera were now, but he was pulled from his thoughts by Dr Luwin’s voice asking, “are you alright, Bran?”.

“Yeah, just… trying to make sense of it all”, Bran replied.

“Are you in any pain at all?”, Dr Luwin kept on asking.

“A little”, Bran answered.

“Nurse Osha will administer a bit of morphine”, he nodded at the nurse, who went over to Bran’s side. “Before we put you under, Bran, you must understand something…”, he paused, “you may have already realised this, but…”, he cleared his throat, “it appears that you have been paralysed from the waist down”, he spoke through sad, pitiful eyes, “and you have been in a coma for six months”, he added.

Bran tried to comprehend what he had just been told. _Six months_ , he repeated the words in his head. Certain things began to make a bit more sense now, such as the fact that his hair had grown so long.

“Where’s my family?”, Bran asked.

“They’ve been visiting you every day”, Dr Luwin assured him, pointing at the flowers that sat on the table beside the hospital bed. “Your mother refused to leave your side for weeks”, he smiled.

“But where are they now?”, Bran questioned.

“We will call them now”, he answered. “By the time you wake up, they will be here”.

And at that, Bran felt himself fall to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I've written a few chapters ahead of time (as of 29/7/19 I've got 8 chapters written), and I can't say for sure but I think this work will end up being around 30 chapters or so. I'll try and upload daily but there will some stretches of time this summer where I'll be on holiday, so don't be worried if I go on a week-long hiatus -- I definitely intend to finish this story. I have a vague idea of how/when the story will end as well. I can't wait to get there, and thank you for coming on this journey with me! :D


	2. Visitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran is visited by some of his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one, but it helps to set up the next chapter where we'll finally get to see Meera!

When Bran woke up, he saw his mother sitting on the only chair in the room, presumably waiting for him to wake up.

The clock on the wall read 12.45pm. Bran remembered it being about 9.30am when Dr Luwin and Nurse Osha had put him under, so he must’ve only been asleep for a little over 3 hours.

Honestly, he’d expected more of his family to be there, but it was a Friday and most of them would either be at school or work, or at uni in the cases of Robb, Jon and Sansa.

“Mother”, Bran croaked. His voice still felt dry as a bone.

“Brandon!”, his mother stood up. _She never uses my full name_ , Bran chuckled to himself. The last time she’d used his full name was when she was reprimanding him after she’d found weed in his room.

His mother went over to hug him gently. She was taking care not to hurt him, which Bran appreciated. He embraced his mother back, holding her tight as she cried into his shoulder. Bran allowed a few tears of his own to stream down his cheeks. This felt emotional for him, but he knew that it would be infinitely more so for his mother – he’d just woken up, but she’d had to go for six months without seeing him.

The rest of the day was a flurry. People came by the masses to see him.

First was Arya and Rickon. Father had picked them up from school and immediately brought them to the hospital. He heard Arya’s worried voice before he saw her. When she burst into the room, she leapt on top of him and hugged him as hard as she could. She lacked the gentle touch that his mother had taken earlier, but Bran still appreciated it. His sister rarely ever showed any emotion, preferring to appear tough in front of other people – even her own family. _Not today, though,_ Bran thought.

Rickon came to see him next. Bran felt particularly protective of his younger brother, especially since little Rickon was the only Stark who was younger than himself. Therefore, it felt weird to have Rickon fuss over Bran the way that everyone else usually fussed over him.

After that, his father walked into the room. Father was similar to Arya in the sense that he tried not to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but today his father’s face was plastered with worry, concern, and also a slight hint of relief at seeing his son awake. Father pulled him in for one of his bear hugs, muttering assurances into his ear.

Some others came after that. A few of the neighbours came – like the Cassels and the Pooles. They all brought gifts, which mostly consisted of flowers, chocolates, and get-well-soon cards. At the end of the day, his family promised to come back and visit him tomorrow.

Bran appreciated their attention. It had hardly been a day since he’d woken up, but he still felt like he missed them. And he hadn’t gotten sick of their constant fussing over him. Not yet, at least.


	3. Meera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran receives some more visitors at the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The first big chapter!

More visitors came the next day, and Bran had started to get sick of the constant attention. All he really wanted to do was rest, but people kept on coming to visit. Even when his visitors left him alone, Dr Luwin and Nurse Osha came in to run tests on him. It seemed like there wasn’t a moment of daylight when he wasn’t left alone.

It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate people coming to see him. It wasn’t like that at all. He wanted to see them as much as they wanted to see him. But he just wished that he had some time and space for himself, to be left to his own thoughts.

Uncle Benjen was the first to visit on that Saturday morning. His commander had given him leave to visit Bran at Winterfell Hospital after he’d heard that Bran had woken up. Benjen told him so, detailing the trip he’d taken from Castle Black to Winterfell.

“You’re a tough bastard, Bran”, Benjen said.

“Ben!”, mother scolded him, but uncle Benjen chose to ignore her.

“I knew you’d wake up”, Benjen continued, “us Starks are tough, isn’t that right?”.

“Yeah”, Bran replied with a half-smile.

Later on, he saw Robb, Jon and Sansa. That had surprised him – he knew that they were all at uni down in the south.

“You guys are here?”, Bran asked after they had all hugged him.

“Of course, baby brother”, Robb answered affectionately, “you’re more important than uni. Anyways, I think we can get away with taking the weekend off for you”.

Bran had been touched by that. It meant a lot that they cared enough to take the hours-long train ride back up to Winterfell just to see him.

They spent the rest of the day catching up. Obviously, Bran didn’t have much new going on, so he pretty much spent hours just listening to what the others had been getting up to over the last six months.

Robb was just finishing up his finals for his degree in law. After he graduated, he would move up to Winterfell with his long-term girlfriend, Jeyne Westerling, to help father run the Stark law firm.

Jon was similarly finishing up his degree in philosophy but had no solid plans for the future yet. He talked about how he might join the military like uncle Benjen, but it would depend on whether or not his girlfriend Dany would be ok with it.

Jon was like a brother to Bran, but he wasn’t really his brother. He was his cousin, born as the son of his aunt Lyanna and her boyfriend at the time, Arthur Dayne. Arthur was a soldier fighting in Essos and had died over there while Lyanna was pregnant with Jon. The only relative that was close to Arthur was his sister Ashara, who had been engaged to Bran’s uncle Brandon – who he was named after. Arthur had died around the same time that uncle Brandon and grandpa Rickard had died in a firefighting incident. Ashara had taken her own life, so when Lyanna died in childbirth, father had taken responsibility for raising Jon. Jon grew up with the rest of the Stark kids as a brother.

Sansa was finishing her first year studying art. Her relationship with her girlfriend Margaery was going well, as she told him.

Arya was still dating her friend Gendry, which had surprised Bran. They’d just started seeing each other before Bran had fallen into a coma, and back then he’d thought that it’d just be a temporary fling. Arya had also qualified for the regional fencing competition taking place this summer, which would take up most of her time. Arya didn’t complain, though. It had always been her dream to become an Olympic fencer, even if it meant sacrificing her free time which she would otherwise be spending with her family or Gendry.

Rickon said that nothing was new with him. At this point, Bran and Rickon were the only Stark kids who weren’t in relationships. _How different that could’ve been if I hadn’t fallen into a coma_ , Bran thought to himself.

Father was doing fine as well, and the Stark law firm was doing well. Mother was writing a new book, which she hoped was as successful as her best seller, a book called _The Long Night_. It was a fictional horror book she had written years ago about the mythical White Walkers and the War for the Dawn which had supposedly happened thousands of years ago, although most reputable historians doubted its occurrence at all. That book had been an instant best seller and had made his mother a renowned author. However, none of the books she’d written afterwards had done nearly as well.

In the evening, things got a bit quieter. His family had finally given him some time alone. He’d just finished eating the dinner that Nurse Osha had brought him when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in”, Bran called, expecting it to be one of his family members.

It wasn’t.

Jojen and Meera walked in. The former walked over to embrace him but Meera stayed back, hovering near the door. She looked like she was ready to run out that door at any second.

“How are you feeling, Bran?”, Jojen asked his best friend.

“Not bad, considering the circumstances”, Bran responded. In truth, Bran felt depressed at the prospect that he might never walk again. He also had to catch up with all the work he’d missed at school over the last six months, which would consume most of his summer. He wasn’t looking forward to that.

“Good, that’s good”, Jojen said, “we wanted to make sure you were ok”. Jojen had a look of remorse on his face. “Is there anything you need?”.

“No, thank you. My parents have made sure I’ve got everything I need here”, Bran laughed. His parents had been fussing over him non-stop since yesterday, bringing up any belongings from home that he asked for.

“Alright”, Jojen nodded, “I’m just going to the toilet, but I’ll be right back”. At that, Jojen left him alone in the room with Meera.

“Hi, Meera”, Bran said, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.

One of the things he could remember from around the time of the accident was that he was planning on asking Meera out at the end of the trip. They had kissed at the New Year's party they had both attended at the Stark mansion. Bran thought, _no, he knew,_ that Meera hadn’t viewed that kiss the same way he had.

He recalled that night. He’d just been talking to Meera when Arya had started to drunkenly count down from 10 at the top of her voice, ordering everyone to find someone to kiss. Bran had a crush on Meera and had hoped that she wanted to choose him to be her kiss. It had just been the two of them together and no-one else was around, so she’d shrugged her shoulders and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

It was over too quickly, Bran had thought, but it had sent electricity through his body. His mind had been racing at the time, making himself doubt that the kiss had meant anything. _She’s just your friend,_ the voice in his head had told him, _she only kissed you because you were the closest person there. It didn’t mean anything_.

That hadn’t stopped him from becoming more infatuated with Meera, though. He’d told Jojen as such when there was a moment they were alone together at the cabin they’d been staying at in the Frostfangs. Jojen had laughed, telling Bran that he’d seen the way Bran looked at his sister. Bran had asked if he should ask her out, and Jojen told him that it wouldn’t hurt to give it a go.

Jojen had been extremely reasonable – reassuring Bran that even if Meera rejected him, she wouldn’t treat him any differently and they would still be friends. Jojen was also certain that his sister would say yes to his best friend. _“I know these things, Bran”_ , Jojen had told him. It was true – Jojen had a real talent for correctly predicting things that hadn’t happened yet.

Still, Bran wasn’t as sure as his friend was that everything would turn out well.

“Hi, Bran”, Meera responded, drawing Bran back to the present. Her voice was shaking, and Bran could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

Before he knew it, she was hugging him and sobbing into his shoulder. Bran held her, awkwardly patting her back.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”, Bran asked softly.

“I’m so sorry”, she sniffed.

“What in the world for?”, Bran chuckled, trying to defuse the tension that was thick in the air.

“I was supposed to take care of you”, Meera answered, pulling back and wiping the tears from her eyes. Bran acutely noticed how close they were to each other. He could feel her breath on his skin, and it made him lean closer to her. He could smell her perfume now and his eyelids began to droop a little.

“It wasn’t your fault”, Bran said breathily. He cleared his throat, trying not to sound too affected by her presence.

“It was”, she maintained.

“I don’t blame you”, he tried again.

“I do”, she frowned.

“Hey”, he began, grabbing her hand, “I understand”. _I would hate myself too if I let anything bad happen to you_ were the words that went unsaid.

“No, you don’t”, she insisted. Before he knew it, she was kissing him. Properly this time. This was the second time she had kissed him. Bran would never admit it, but it was also only the second time he’d ever kissed any girl.

Fireworks were going off in his head as she deepened the kiss. In that moment, he wished he had a bit more experience with kissing girls, since he had no idea what to do. His mind casted him back to a few years ago when Robb and Theon were hanging out at the Stark mansion. This was right before Theon had gone off the radar a few years ago. Bran had been in the kitchen and overheard the conversation his brother was having with his best friend at the time.

 _What you need to do is grab the girl’s ass,_ Theon had said, _and make sure you give her a bit of tongue. Girls like that._ Theon was experienced with kissing girls. Back when Robb and Theon were in high school together, it always seemed that Theon had a new girl pretty much every week.

But Bran wasn’t nearly confident enough to do that with Meera. He also wasn’t an idiot – his sisters had told him that Theon was a bit of a creep, and only got away with his relentless flirting because of his good looks and cheeky smile.

Bran ended up freezing as Meera kissed him. His hands were rigid and still on her back, and he dared not move his lips.

Meera must have misunderstood his stillness and immediately pulled back, looking guilty.

“I’m sorry, Bran”, she spoke.

“Stop apologising”, Bran interrupted her.

“I like you”, she continued, “like, _really_ like you”, she blushed. “When I found out what had happened to you, I…”, she trailed off, letting the tears stream down her face.

“Meera, I…”, he started, but was interrupted by Jojen coming back into the room.

“Is everything alright, sis?”, Jojen worriedly asked, sitting next to Meera on Bran’s bed.

“Yeah, I just feel so… guilty about what happened”, she admitted. Bran’s mind was all over the place after that kiss and _that_ confession, but he could tell that Meera hadn’t opened up to her brother about her insecurities yet.

“We’ve talked about this”, Jojen replied, making Bran realise that his intuition had been wrong, “if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. Isn’t that right Bran?”.

“I…”, Bran spoke slowly, “I don’t exactly have the best memory of what happened”.

Meera stood up and left the room, muttering something about needing some air, leaving Bran and Jojen alone together.

Jojen held Bran’s hand but was unable to meet his eyes. “I dared you to go down a particularly dangerous slope”, Jojen admitted.

“Oh”, was all that Bran could get out.

They both sat there in an awkward silence for a minute before Bran spoke again.

“I forgive you”, Bran said, “I’m responsible too. I must have known it was dangerous. I was an idiot for going down that slope”, Bran offered his friend a smile, who returned with one of his own.

“Thank you, Bran”, Jojen said, “that really means a lot”.

“So…”, Bran went on, “about Meera…”

“I suppose nothing much has changed for you, huh?”, Jojen interjected.

He was right. Six months had passed, but for Bran it only felt like a handful of days had passed. His feelings for Meera were still the same as they were back then. Bran nodded at what his friend had said.

“I’ll ask her if she wants to come and see you again tomorrow, if that’s what you want?”, Jojen offered.

Bran nodded again.

“Ok”, Jojen smiled, “hopefully by tomorrow she’ll have calmed down a bit. I think this has all been a bit difficult for her”.

Bran and Jojen said their goodbyes, promising to talk again tomorrow when they came back to visit.

For the first time since he’d woken up, he felt good about his situation. He felt a pleasant mix of nervousness and excitement at the prospect of seeing Meera again tomorrow.


	4. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran goes home.

Seeing Meera was what Bran looked forward to the most that day. It was Sunday – two days since he’d woken up.

Dr Luwin entered the room with mother and father, a serious look on all their faces.

“Bran, we need to have a conversation”, Dr Luwin said sternly. Bran felt nervous, wondering if he’d done something wrong. Dr Luwin must have seen the look on Bran’s face and clarified, “you have done nothing wrong. We just need to discuss our next steps”.

_That was a poor choice of words,_ Bran thought sarcastically.

“You will be allowed to go home today”, Dr Luwin told him. “Your parents can take you whenever you are ready to go”.

“Ok”, Bran responded.

“Now let’s address the elephant in the room”, Dr Luwin continued. “You will have to use a wheelchair in order to go anywhere”.

Bran felt upset about that. He was sad that he couldn’t go back to his normal life after leaving the hospital. It almost made him not want to leave.

“But there are options”, Dr Luwin said, trying his best to sound cheerful and optimistic. “I have discussed it with your parents already, but it is only fair to talk to you about it as well”.

“About what?”, Bran prompted.

“Physical therapy”, Dr Luwin answered. “I believe that your spine isn’t damaged beyond repair. With enough treatment and care, you should be able to walk again”.

Bran’s face lit up at that.

“Listen, I don’t want to get your expectations too high”, Dr Luwin told him. “Best case scenario: you’d be able to walk, but you won’t ever be able to go snowboarding again, nor would you be able to walk or run long distances. You might occasionally feel pain or stiffness in your legs and back, but you would be taught breathing exercises and stretches that will help. You also cannot lift heavy objects”, Dr Luwin rattled on.

Most of it went through Bran’s head. He didn’t care, as long as it meant he could walk and be normal again.

“We would start tomorrow”, Dr Luwin said, “and keep on working at it every day. Though you must understand that this will be hard work. It will be very time-consuming, and sometimes it might feel like it isn’t worth it. But if you do as you are instructed, we are hopeful that we can get you walking independently by the end of summer”.

“Ok”, was all that Bran could say, “I want to do it”.

His mother beamed a smile at him, and his father looked happy as well. Bran had a gut feeling that this was the right thing to do.

Dr Luwin left after that, assuring Bran that his parents had all the necessary information to get physical therapy sessions organised at their home.

“There’s another thing”, his mother said when the three of them were alone. “You’ve missed a lot of schoolwork”.

Bran rolled his eyes. _Of course,_ he thought.

“We’ve hired a private tutor to help you catch up on what you’ve missed”, mother carried on. “It will also be very time-consuming, but if you want to start the next year of school with the rest of your peers, you’ll need to do this”.

“Ok, mother”, Bran replied begrudgingly.

His mother gave him a kiss on the top of his head. “Ready to go home now?”, she asked. Bran nodded.

The hospital had given them a wheelchair. Nothing special, just a regular wheelchair. Father told him that they could buy a better wheelchair if he said the word – one with a heated, padded seat, and a joystick to move it around without having to manually spin the wheels. Bran refused, though. He felt that it would be embarrassing to have such a fancy wheelchair.

They got in the car to go home. His parents kept asking him if there was anything he wanted to do, like go to the cinema or get ice cream. Bran told them no, not wanting to be out in public just yet. He was also exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep in his own bed again.

When they pulled up in front of the Stark mansion, Bran smiled. It felt good to be home.


	5. Work, work, work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran adjusts to life at home.

Bran had thought that going home would mean that he would finally get some time to himself. He had been wrong.

He’d had the Sunday evening to settle back in. He was surprised to see that the Stark mansion had been made wheelchair accessible, including a wheelchair stair lift that could take him up and downstairs without the need for someone else’s help. Father had explained that they’d had the house renovated to accommodate Bran’s condition. Bran felt a bit guilty but accepted that his family were going to make at least a fair bit of effort to make sure he was accommodated well.

They’d all had dinner together that night, just like the old days. Robb, Jon and Sansa would be leaving the following morning to head back down south to King’s Landing University, or KLU for short, where they were each studying. Uncle Benjen had already returned up to Castle Black. The rest of his siblings had one more week of school to go before they broke up for the summer holidays. Arya would be starting uni next year, which had dominated the conversation at the dinner table whenever they weren’t focused on Bran.

The next day, Bran started both physical therapy and his private tutoring sessions. The private tutor came first. He was an old, white-haired man with a long beard. His name was Brynden Rivers, and he informed Bran that he’d be coming every weekday for the rest of the summer for 3 hours a day from 9am until midday, unless they managed to get him all caught up before then. Bran promised himself to be extra diligent in these study sessions so that he could have at least some the summer free.

Later on that first Monday, the physical therapist had come along. His name was Dr Wolkan – a specialist in lower body paralysis. Dr Wolkan was confident that he could get Bran walking again, which had made Bran very happy.

Dr Wolkan had apparently been over on Saturday to set up the specialist equipment in the garage – which had plenty of space given that Robb, Jon and Sansa’s cars weren’t taking up space in there anymore.

Dr Luwin had been right in saying that it would be difficult. The first physical therapy session had been excruciating and taxing, and it felt like they had made no progress at all. Bran voiced his concerns to Dr Wolkan, who reassured him that they were progressing as expected. He would return every day, including weekends, to spend the afternoon with Bran until he could walk again. Bran didn’t even want to think about how expensive this must be, but he knew that his parents were very wealthy and could definitely afford it.

After Dr Wolkan left, Bran wanted nothing more than to go back to his room, turn on his computer and play some video games. His computer was something he’d sorely missed at the hospital. It had 2K dual monitors, a state-of-the-art sound system, and all of the equipment was up to date (well, at least it was six months ago).

However, mother wouldn’t let Bran retreat to his room that easily. She guilted him into spending time with her, stating that she’d missed him so much over the past six months. As an author, mother could work from home – a luxury she exploited so that she could spend as much time with him as possible whenever he wasn’t with Mr Rivers or Dr Wolkan.

Bran had sent a text to Jojen the day he was released from hospital, letting his friend know that he was going home. He was wary about inviting the Reeds over, though. He wasn’t sure how his mother would feel about them coming over, given that Bran had been crippled while in their care. Bran felt that it was too soon to ask his mother, but after a week of being at home he started to feel himself go crazy. He’d never been this busy in his entire life.


	6. Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran tries to convince his parents to let him see the Reeds again.

It was Sunday, exactly one week since he’d been released from hospital. Bran decided he would ask his mother for permission to visit the Reeds’ house at dinner while father was there. Bran had a feeling that father would convince mother to let him go.

“Mother”, Bran began after finishing a mouthful, “I wanted to ask… can I visit the Reeds next weekend?”.

His mother’s response was immediate. “No”.

“But-”, he tried again.

“I said no, Bran”, his mother cut in, “and you know why”.

“Please”, he begged.

“Cat-”, father attempted to begin.

Mother placed her cutlery down on the table, taking a deep breath before speaking. “The last time I left you with them, I nearly lost you”, his mother said, “you’ll never see them again”.

Bran felt tears well up in his eyes. He wanted to scream. To shout. To kick up a fuss like Arya does whenever she doesn’t get her way, or like Rickon used to when he was younger. Those two siblings sat at the table, watching the whole exchange with wide eyes and tense faces – not daring to speak up.

“We’ll talk about this later, son”, father added, offering him a warm smile.

Bran felt better about that, knowing that father would take his side. Mother didn’t look so happy, but he hoped that him and father could change her mind.

Later on that night, Bran could hear the sounds of an argument. He pulled himself from his bed, onto his wheelchair, and wheeled himself towards the commotion. It took a while for the wheelchair stair lift to get him downstairs, but after that he was able to quickly push himself towards father’s study, where he heard the raised voices of his parents.

He paused outside of the door, where Arya was eavesdropping as well.

“Do you think Howland would ever let anything happen to him?”, father questioned.

“Of course not, Ned! But I’m not comfortable with him being around those kids, why can’t you see that?”, mother passionately responded.

“They’re his friends, Cat”, father replied calmly, “you can’t keep him caged up at home forever”.

“Why not?”. He could practically hear mother’s pout from the other side of the door.

“Come on, Cat”, father sounded exasperated, “he’s my son too. I care about him as much as you do”.

Mother kept quiet, not daring to try and argue with that.

“What if they came here?”, Ned asked, “where you can keep an eye on them? It’s not like we live on top of a ski slope anyway”, father tried to joke, but even Bran knew that his mother wouldn’t appreciate that. Him and Arya winced at each other when the joke came out.

“That’s not funny”, mother said sharply, “those two kids were irresponsible. It’s their fault that Bran is in a wheelchair!”.

“What?!”, Bran exclaimed, instantly regretting opening his mouth.

Arya dashed off upstairs before either of their parents came out. Bran was jealous of that. He couldn’t get away so quickly and would have to face the consequences of eavesdropping on his parents.

His father opened the door, “Brandon? Were you listening to us?”.

“Yes”, Bran replied meekly.

“Go back to your room”, father commanded.

Before he complied, Bran found the bravery in himself to challenge what his mother had just said.

“You’re wrong, by the way”, he said to his mother, “about Jojen and Meera. It wasn’t their fault, it was _mine_. I chose to go down a dangerous slope”, _that wasn’t a lie, to be fair,_ “they tried to stop me”, _that was, though_. A white lie, Bran reasoned. He hated lying – a trait that father had instilled in him – but if it was the only way he could see Jojen and Meera again, then so be it.

“Go to bed, Bran”, mother replied, not looking up from the floor.

Bran accepted defeat, turning around and wheeling himself back towards the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last few chapters have been a little bit short, but they help to set up what comes next. I promise that the following chapters will be longer and much more eventful :)


	7. Greenseers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran spends some time with an old friend.

It had taken nearly a week for mother to come to terms with what Bran had said to her in father’s office. The following Friday, mother told him that the Reeds could visit the Stark mansion for the weekend, as long as it didn’t distract him from his tutoring sessions and physical therapy.

Bran had gladly accepted his mother’s offer, thanking her for changing her mind.

On Saturday evening, after Dr Walkon had left, the doorbell rang. Bran was excited. He hadn’t seen his friends for two weeks now and had felt every second of that time apart. He’d been honest when texting Jojen, telling him that his mother wasn’t keen on the idea of Bran seeing them again after the accident.

As Bran reached downstairs, he saw that Jojen was talking to mother. Jojen was handing her a bottle of her favourite wine as a gift. _Oh, he’s good,_ Bran thought. His friend had a knack for giving good presents.

Bran felt disappointment, though, when he saw that Jojen was alone. _Meera didn’t come, then,_ Bran thought sadly. It was upsetting but seeing Jojen was better than nothing.

“Bran!”, Jojen walked over, bending down and embracing his friend in the wheelchair.

“Come on, you two”, mother said, “dinner’s ready”.

Dinner was a tense affair. They successfully managed to avoid the topic of the accident, but it was certainly the elephant in the room.

“This food is really good, Mrs Stark”, Jojen commented politely.

“Thank you, Jojen”, mother replied with a half-smile.

“How’s your father doing?”, father asked.

“Pretty good”, Jojen responded. It was a stupid question. Their fathers worked together in the Stark law firm, so father was clearly only asking to keep the conversation flowing. It hadn’t worked.

“How about your sister?”, father tried again.

“She’s fine”, Jojen answered. _Yeah, she is,_ Bran internally joked. Arya must’ve been able to discern what was going on in Bran’s head, because she was giving him a strange look which he chose to ignore. “She’s excited to start uni next year”, Jojen carried on. Meera was the same age as Arya, and it looked likely that both girls would end up going to KLU, same as Robb, Jon and Sansa.

“Oh? And what does she want to study?”, father asked.

 _Biology_ , Bran knew already. “Biology”, Jojen answered.

“Ah, I see”, father responded, “you’re thinking of studying biology too, aren’t you Arya?”.

“Yep”, Arya said, her narrowed eyes still fixed on Bran. It started to make him uncomfortable. He would’ve squirmed in his seat if he was capable of moving his legs. Unfortunately, he was still able to blush, which he could start to feel creeping onto his cheeks.

“Sorry she couldn’t make it tonight”, Jojen added, “she’s feeling a bit under the weather”.

 _A lie,_ Bran recognised immediately. _Why is she avoiding me?_ Bran questioned himself, perhaps irrationally – it was more likely that Meera was just scared about confronting his mother.

“By the way, I have a question for you, Mrs Stark”, Jojen asked.

“Oh?”, mother responded.

“I’m thinking of getting a head start on my English coursework for next year. We need to review a book and write an essay about it”, Jojen said, “I was hoping I could do it on your new book: _The Drowned_ ”.

 _Oh, he’s really good,_ Bran thought, impressed at his friend’s ability to butter up his mother.

“You’ve read it?”, mother’s eyes lit up. Bran knew the book fairly well. Mother made them all read her work before she published it. _The Drowned_ had been about a jester slave boy named _Patchface_ who sunk on a ship to Westeros, and had encountered mermaids, krakens, and other deep beings before eventually washing up on shore. The book hadn’t done well commercially, just like most of the books that mother published nowadays. As a result, mother was elated whenever someone told her that they’d read one of them.

“Indeed”, Jojen smiled, “I’d be honoured if you’d let me review it and answer any questions I have about it. I’d let you read the review, of course. I promise I won’t be too scathing”, Jojen added with a wink.

 _Damn, that was smooth,_ Bran thought.

Jojen and mother spent the rest of the meal talking about the book. By the end of the conversation, any tension that had been in the air was now gone.

After they had finished up, Jojen headed upstairs with Bran to his room. Dinner had been a success, and mother had invited Jojen to stay the night. In all honesty, Bran would’ve preferred to spend the night with the other Reed sibling – but he quickly pushed those thoughts from his mind in case Jojen could figure out what he was thinking.

“You were good at dinner”, Bran spoke truthfully, “mother seems to have forgiven you already”.

“What can I say?”, Jojen shrugged, “I’m charming”.

“Shut up”, Bran teased. They went into his room. Out of habit, Jojen picked up one of the bottles of water that Bran only kept there for Jojen. Jojen opened the bottle and took a sip to wash down one of his epilepsy pills.

Jojen had been epileptic from a young age, and the pills were the only thing that prevented the seizures.

“Wanna get high?”, Jojen asked.

“You just got on my mother’s good side, and now you wanna smoke in her house?”, Bran jested.

“She won’t notice. You’ve still got those incense sticks, right? And we’ll blow the smoke out the window”, Jojen said.

“Yeah, problem is… I don’t have any weed”, Bran admitted. He’d smoked all the weed he had over the last two weeks. It helped him with the pain from physical therapy, but he’d ran out a couple days ago, and it wasn’t like he was able to get out of the house and get some more from his dealer.

“I’ve got you covered”, Jojen said, producing a large pouch of weed from his overnight bag.

“Gods, Jojen!”, Bran exclaimed, “that’s got to be a whole ounce!”, he said quieter this time, “how are we gonna smoke all of that tonight?”.

“We’re not”, Jojen responded, “whatever’s left is for you to keep”.

“Wait, really?”, Bran asked.

“Yeah”, Jojen smiled, “consider it an apology gift”.

 _Again, Jojen with those amazing gifts of his,_ Bran thought.

“An apology for what, though?”, Bran asked, confused. _Was he apologising on behalf of Meera for not coming tonight?_

“For the accident”, Jojen answered, looking sheepish.

“Hey”, Bran said, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “you don’t need to apologise for that. You didn’t do anything wrong”.

“Are you gonna take it or what?”, Jojen laughed.

“Of course I’m gonna take it”, Bran joined his friend’s laughter.

Bran grinded the weed and rolled a pair of joints using some spare papers and filters he found in one of his drawers. He grabbed his lighter and lighted some incense sticks before he lit his joint, taking a drag before passing the lighter to his friend, who did the same.

They sat there for a minute, smoking the weed together in silence.

“Fuck”, Bran said, “I don’t have any snacks up here”. He didn’t like the idea of going downstairs on that wheelchair stair lift to get things from the kitchen, where he might run into one or both of his parents.

“I got you covered, bro”, Jojen said, producing some sweets and crisps from his bag, as well as a 2-litre bottle of sprite.

“You’re a lifesaver, bro”, Bran thanked.

They spent the rest of the night munching on the food Jojen brought while they watched dumb youtube videos.

But all Bran could think of was how much he wanted to do this with Meera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was probably my favourite chapter to write so far lol


	8. Sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya confronts her brother.

It was Bran’s third week back at home, and things were going pretty well.

Mr Rivers was very impressed with how well Bran was picking up his studies. In truth, Bran was used to being at the top of his class without having to put much work in, so he didn’t find it hard to learn the material that Mr Rivers was teaching him.

Dr Walkon was also happy with the progress that Bran was making with physical therapy. He had taken his first steps today. It had only been a handful of steps, and he’d had to use one of those walking frames that old people used, but Dr Walkon had claimed that those first steps would be the hardest. Bran hoped that he was right. It had been painful enough, and he didn’t want to smoke his weed to help deal with the pain – he was saving it for something else he had planned.

He still hadn’t seen Meera since the night she’d kissed him. He tested the waters by tagging her in a meme on facebook. It wasn’t that funny, but Bran wanted to see if she would react or maybe even respond. If she did, he would take that as a good sign and invite her over.

He was nervous about that. Whenever he thought about it, his stomach would flutter. He was nervous about seeing her again, especially after what she’d told him that night. _I like you_ , he remembered her saying, _like, **really** like you_. Whenever he thought about it, it made him blush as hard as Sansa always used to back when she was a teenager.

When… no, **if** … he ever invited her over, he would offer to smoke weed with her. That was what he was saving it for. He already had a joint pre-rolled in case that ever happened, figuring that they could share one. He was nervous about that as well. As far as he knew, Meera didn’t smoke, and he was unsure as to how she would react to his offer.

But that wasn’t what scared him the most. He was yet to tell her how he felt about her. He had been interrupted that night by Jojen. _Meera, I like you too,_ was what he had wanted to say. He hoped that he would get the chance again soon.

“Hey, lil bro”, Arya said as she walked into his room, a cheeky look on her face.

“What do you want?”, Bran asked, taking his headset off and turning to look at his sister.

“Nothing”, Arya replied, feigning innocence.

Bran gave her a look, letting her know that he didn’t have the patience for whatever it was she was up to.

“I want your weed”, she demanded.

“What?”, Bran’s brow furrowed, “what are you talking about? I don’t have weed”, he tried, but from the look his sister gave him, he knew that the lie hadn’t worked.

“I’m not an idiot, Bran”, Arya rolled her eyes, “you and Jojen are, like, the biggest stoners ever. Everyone knows”.

His eyes widened at that.

“It’s fine, mother and father don’t know. As far as mother’s concerned, it was just a one-time-thing when she found some in your room that one time”, Arya said.

Bran remembered that day well. He always made sure to hide his weed better after that. But his parents weren’t who he was concerned about. _Does Meera know?_

“Why should I give you any of my weed?”, Bran settled on instead. If she tried to rat him out to their parents, he would just reveal that she had tried to blackmail him for some. That would land her in as much if not more trouble than himself.

Arya rolled her eyes again, “because if you don’t, I’ll tell Meera about the little crush you have on her”.

If Bran had been drinking something, he would definitely have spat it out. “What-?”.

“Come on, bro. You blush every time someone mentions her name. Look! You’re blushing right now!”, she giggled.

“No, I’m not”. _He was_. He didn’t want his sister to tell Meera that he liked her. He wanted to do that himself. But he also wanted to keep that weed to smoke it with Meera. That was what he was saving it up for. He suddenly felt like an idiot for not smoking it sooner. He realised that Arya was probably going to get her way, and if he’d just smoked it before then at least he could’ve enjoyed it instead of losing it all to his sister.

“Fine, you can have it”, Bran frowned.

His sister smiled annoyingly, holding out her hand. Bran grabbed it from the lockbox he kept under his bed and gave it to her.

“Thanks, bro”, she grinned.

She went to leave, but just before she did, she turned around and said, “by the way, stop tagging her in memes. It’s kinda cringy, bro”.

Bran felt himself blush even harder. Speaking of which, he glanced at his phone and saw a facebook notification. Meera had heart reacted to his comment. That suddenly made him feel a whole lot better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arya is one of my favourite characters to write about lol


	9. Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rickon opens up to Bran.

Bran’s physical therapy was going very well. It was nearing a month since his return home, and he was able to walk from the garage to the stairs with the help of crutches. Bran was ecstatic – he didn’t care that he could only walk extremely slowly and only for a short amount of time over a short distance each day. To Bran, any steps at all meant the world to him.

“I’m happy with how you are doing, Bran”, Dr Walkon told him at the end of that day’s session, “this is very promising indeed”.

“Thank you, Dr Wolkan”, Bran thanked him. He would make sure to get Dr Wolkan a nice thank-you-gift when this was all over.

Mother had been over the moon as well. “We need to celebrate”, she’d told him. “I’ll cook your favourite meal for dinner tonight, and we’ll have cake for dessert”.

Rickon had been there when mother had said that, and Bran thought that his little brother had a peculiar look on his face. Bran figured he must’ve imagined it. _Why would Rickon be upset about that?_

Nevertheless, Bran went to visit his younger brother later that day anyway, just to check.

He knocked on Rickon’s door.

“One sec”, he heard his brother’s voice. After a moment he asked, “who is it?”.

“It’s me”, Bran answered.

“Oh”, Rickon said, “come in, then”. _Not the most welcoming invitation_ , Bran thought to himself.

“Hi”, Bran smiled at his brother, wheeling himself into Rickon’s room. Bran was exhausted after today’s physical therapy session. He knew that he was capable of walking from his room to Rickon’s, but his back was way too sore for him to even give that idea a second thought.

“Hi”, Rickon replied curtly.

“Everything ok?”, Bran asked, trying to figure out what was wrong with his brother. They were both usually pretty friendly with each other. If Bran had to say which sibling he was closest to, he’d probably say his little brother. But for some reason, Rickon wasn’t being as talkative as usual.

“Yeah”, Rickon brushed the question off. “What do you want?”, he shot back.

“To see how my baby brother is doing”, Bran attempted a smile, but he knew the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Don’t call me that!”, Rickon spat.

“Ok”, Bran said. ‘Baby brother’ was always what Robb had called Bran. Bran had only meant to use the phrase affectionately towards Rickon. “Physical therapy was good today”, Bran went on, trying to change the subject.

It ended up being a poor choice of words. Rickon groaned and took his headphones out of his ears. “No-one cares about your stupid physical therapy”, Rickon basically shouted.

“What-”, Bran started, but was interrupted.

“Shut up!”, Rickon cut in, “I’m sick of hearing about you all the time”.

“Watch your language”, Bran tried to reprimand his little brother, but Rickon just rolled his eyes like Arya does whenever someone tries to treat her like a child.

“I don’t care”, was all Rickon said.

Bran was hurting. It had been tough to hear his brother say these things to him, but he wanted to try and understand where it was coming from. “Why are you so upset?”, he asked.

“What?”, Rickon responded.

“You heard me”, Bran replied, “this isn’t like you”.

“What do you know about me?”, Rickon pouted, looking like a petulant child.

“You’re my brother”, Bran answered, making sure not to put the word _baby_ before _brother_.

“Yeah, but no-one ever pays attention to me anymore”, Rickon spoke with tears welling up in his eyes. “Everything’s about you now. I bet you didn’t even know that I have a girlfriend”.

Bran’s eyes widened at that. “A girlfriend?”, he echoed.

“Yeah”, Rickon raised his chin up, looking proud of himself.

“Who?”, Bran questioned.

“Lyanna Mormont”, Rickon answered. “She’s in my year at school”.

Bran knew who she was. The Mormonts had been friends with the Starks for a long time – longer than Bran could remember. But Bran wanted to return to something else Rickon had said before. _No-one ever pays attention to me anymore. Everything’s about you now_.

“Rickon, we all still care about you”, Bran attempted. “We all love you”. A couple of tears fell from Rickon’s eyes at that. “I love you”, Bran added. Now Rickon was bawling. Bran lifted himself out of his wheelchair and crawled over the pile of clothes on the floor towards his brother’s bed, pulling himself up and hugging his brother.

It was all starting to make sense now – Rickon had always been the baby in the family. Being the youngest Stark kid meant that he got heaps of attention dumped on him, not only from mother and father but also from his other siblings. Bran’s accident meant that everyone was paying attention to him all the time instead of Rickon. That must’ve made his brother feel like he’d been forgotten.

“I’m sorry about what I said”, Rickon apologised.

“It’s ok”, Bran said. When Bran was Rickon’s age, he had been moody and hormonal as well.

“I love you too”, Rickon said. That made Bran’s heart swell.


	10. Guest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone comes to see Bran.

“Bran, come downstairs!”, he heard his mother call him. “There’s someone here to see you!”.

Bran groaned before taking off his headset, turning off his computer, and pulling himself into his wheelchair. He didn’t want to talk to another one of mother or father’s friends and hear their sympathies. A couple of mother’s relatives, such as uncle Edmure and great-uncle Brynden, had been over to visit recently to see how Bran was doing. They’d brought gifts for him though, which was nice.

But as Bran was halfway down the wheelchair stair lift, he realised that it wasn’t one of his parent’s friends or relatives. Meera stood in the doorway, talking to his mother. _She looks beautiful_ , Bran thought. All of a sudden, Bran felt very self-conscious. He wished that he’d washed himself up before coming downstairs, or at least put some deodorant on. But it was too late now, as Meera had seen him and flashed one of her perfect smiles at him.

He tried to return her one of his own smiles, but he knew that it wasn’t nearly as charming. Bran also became very aware of how long and messy his hair was. He still hadn’t had his hair cut since before he’d fallen into a coma. He combed his hands through his hair a couple of times in hopes of straightening it out a bit. At least he’d brushed his teeth that morning. Still, if he’d known that Meera was coming, he would’ve made much more of an effort to make himself presentable.

“I’ll leave you two to it”, mother smiled at them, heading out towards the garden.

“Hi”, Bran said, his nervousness clear in his voice.

“Hi”, Meera echoed, somehow sounding more nervous.

“Should we head upstairs?”, Bran offered.

“Sure”, Meera replied. She waited for him patiently at the top of the stairs as the wheelchair stair lift took him up. “How’s the physical therapy going?”, she asked.

“Good”, he answered, “I’ve been able to walk around a little, but I don’t think I’m able to use the stairs by myself yet”.

They went into his room together. He closed the door behind them and when he turned around he saw Meera sitting on the edge of his bed.

Both of them tried to talk at the same time, making them both laugh.

“You first”, Bran said.

Meera’s smile faded. “I want to apologise to you”, she started. Bran hated how she felt like she always had to apologise to him these days. “I wanted to come over when Jojen came to visit, but I chickened out”, she continued. “Basically, I’m sorry for kissing you at the hospital. I shouldn’t have done that. I forced my feelings onto you, which wasn’t fair”, she rambled, unable to make eye contact with him.

Bran chuckled, which Meera clearly hadn’t expected.

“You’re not mad at me?”, Meera asked incredulously.

“Of course not, Meera”, Bran shook his head, “I like you too. I wanted to say that to you after we kissed, but Jojen came back before I got the chance”.

“Are you serious?”, Meera asked. She looked cautious and wary, as if she couldn’t quite believe what he was saying. “You better not be messing with me, Brandon Stark”, she said sternly.

“No, I’m not-”, he tried, but she started to let her insecurities out…

“Because I’m a mess, Bran. I let myself fall for my brother’s best friend”, she said. “After we kissed on New Year’s I knew I liked you. I was gonna ask you out at the end of our trip to the Frostfangs”.

Bran sat there, shocked. _We were thinking the same thing the whole time???_

“I told Jojen just before we went on the trip”, Meera added. “He told me that I should give it a shot, but I left it too late”.

“First of all, I hope you don’t just see me as your brother’s best friend”, Bran began, “because I like to think that we’re friends too”. Bran was shy and didn’t have many friends at school. Jojen and Meera were the only people he was comfortable hanging out with, other than his own family of course. He didn’t mind, though – he wasn’t someone who cared too much about being popular.

“Yeah, of course”, Meera smiled. “Of course we’re friends”.

“Good”, Bran smiled back. “And secondly, I’ve had the biggest crush on you since New Year’s too”, he admitted. “Ask Jojen – I was asking him for advice on asking you out too”.

“Seriously, you better not be joking”, Meera said.

Bran assumed that it would be better to show her rather than tell her how he felt. He wheeled himself over to where she was sitting, grabbing her hands in his. “I’m not joking”, Bran said softly before cupping her face and pulling her in for a kiss.

This time was much better than the last. Bran didn’t freeze up, allowing himself to run his hands through her hair and hold the back of her head. After a moment she moved her hands as well, holding his neck and rubbing soothing circles there. It was just a series of close-mouthed kisses for now. Bran still wasn’t confident enough to french kiss Meera but was more than content with what they were doing now.

He pulled back, saying “one sec”. He wheeled himself over to his door, opening it. Arya fell through, faceplanting the floor.

“Hello there”, Bran said. He heard Meera laughing behind him.

“Hi”, Arya breathed, composing herself, “I was just…”

“You can go now”, Bran interjected.

“Yep”, Arya stood up, brushing herself down and quickly walking out the door – which Bran closed behind her.

“How did you know she was there?”, Meera asked, still laughing.

“Because I know my sister too well”, Bran answered honestly, recalling when he and Arya had been eavesdropping on their parents together a couple of weeks ago.

“Anyway, where were we?”, Meera smirked seductively, moving towards him and straddling him in his wheelchair, picking up the kiss where they’d left off.


	11. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya reacts to Bran and Meera's new relationship.

Meera had left that afternoon, promising that she would see him again soon. Bran felt like he had a spring in his step. _Well, maybe that’s the wrong way of phrasing it_ , Bran joked to himself. _Perhaps a… spin in my wheel?_ Either way, Bran was happy – happier than he’d been for a long time.

He was heading to the kitchen to get himself some water when he saw Arya.

“Hey, little bro”, Arya smirked. _Oh, Gods_ , Bran rolled his eyes.

“Arya”, he said plainly.

“So…”, she began her teasing, “is that what you do now? Bring girls home and make out with them in your room?”.

Bran shrugged, choosing to ignore her.

“You’re gonna be like Theon”, she joked. It wasn’t a funny joke though, and he told her so. None of the Starks had seen Theon for years, and there was a good reason for that. It had been a few years ago when most of his family were heading down to Riverrun for grandpa Hoster’s funeral. Bran and Rickon had been sick at the time, so they were left behind in Winterfell. Theon had been a friend of the Starks ever since he was little, so mother and father trusted him to take care of the boys.

_He didn’t_ , Bran thought bitterly. Theon had been dating Ramsay Bolton at the time. _He was experimenting with his sexuality_ , Bran remembered. On the first night, Theon had abandoned the Stark mansion to go and spend time with his boyfriend. However, he’d left the oven on without telling Bran or Rickon. The fire that resulted wasn’t too serious, and the brothers had been fine. But when the rest of the family had come home a couple of days later, they’d noticed the burn marks in the kitchen.

Father had been the angriest, Bran recalled. Grandpa Rickard and uncle Brandon had both died in a fire – there had been a gas explosion at the Winterfell Public Library. Rickard and Brandon had been among the first firefighters on the scene. They both died trying to save people, so when father found out that him and his brother had nearly been left alone in a burning building… that was something that Bran didn’t want to think about ever again. There had been a manhunt for Theon, but he vanished. All the Starks figured that he must’ve felt guilty and ran away to avoid them. He didn’t even pick up his phone or respond on any social media. Not even any of his own family knew where he was, but that wasn’t surprising – Theon never got along with his own folks, apart from his sister Asha. Theon’s father, Balon, had resented Theon for not being tough like his older brothers Rodrik and Maron. Both of Theon’s brothers had been soldiers and had died fighting in Essos. _The same war that Jon’s father died in_ , Bran knew.

Arya’s voice brought him back to their conversation. “For real, though”, she asked, “are you and Meera together now?”.

Before Bran could answer _I don’t know, we’re just seeing each other_ , Rickon came into the kitchen. “Bran and Meera are together?!”, Rickon gasped, wide-eyed. “Since when???”.

“Not that it’s either of your business, but we’re not official yet”, Bran replied, “we’re just seeing each other”.

“Bran was making out with Meera all afternoon”, Arya told Rickon. Bran wished that he could kick Arya in that moment.

“Bro!”, Rickon exclaimed, clapping a hand on Bran’s shoulder, “you absolute legend!”.

“Stop it”, Bran groaned, pushing his brother’s hand off of his shoulder.

“Now it’s your turn, baby brother”, Arya said to Rickon, making him frown at the use of that name. “The rest of us are in relationships except for you”.

Rickon crossed his arms, smirking. “Is that so?”.

Arya’s face dropped, turning towards Bran. “What’s he talking about?”.

Bran laughed, “don’t ask me”, he told her, putting his hands up in surrender.

“Rickon”, she said, using her scary voice.

“I’m with Lyanna Mormont”, he told her.

“What?!”, Arya exclaimed before she ran over and put her youngest brother in a headlock, rubbing her other hand through his messy curls. “Seven hells!”, she exclaimed. “You’ve done well for yourself, Ricky”.

Bran laughed as Rickon tried to wriggle himself free.

“Don’t laugh, Branny”, Arya teased, “I’m not done with you yet”.

Rickon finally got himself free of his sister’s grip.

“Aren’t you too young to start dating people, though?”, Arya asked, a serious look now on her face.

“No”, Rickon frowned.

“But you’re like… 12”, she said.

“I’m 15!”, Rickon responded.

“Whatever”, Arya snorted, “still pretty young”.

“Robb was 15 when he started dating Jeyne!”, Rickon replied defensively. It was true, Robb and Jeyne had been high school sweethearts.

“Ooh, speaking of Robb, he’s coming over for dinner on Sunday with Jeyne”, she informed them.

“I didn’t know he was back”, Bran replied.

“He’s not”, Arya told him. “Him and Jeyne are still looking for a flat in Winterfell together”. Bran’s face must’ve still showed some confusion, as she continued. “Dad said they could stay in Robb’s old room here while they look for a place”.

Bran couldn’t help but wonder to himself how Robb would react to the news of Bran and Rickon’s new relationships.


	12. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robb comes over for dinner.

By the time Robb had come over for dinner on Saturday, Rickon and Lyanna Mormont had already broken up. Apparently Rickon had been under the assumption that they were together while Lyanna had only thought that they were having a temporary fling.

That kind of annoyed Bran. It meant that all of the attention would be on him at dinner. He still hadn’t told his parents about it either, and that was a conversation he wanted to avoid. He knew that he couldn’t get away with not telling them forever, though. Arya would make sure of it.

Robb arrived in the late afternoon on Saturday with Jeyne. Bran heard mother and father greeting them as they came through the door. Bran had been scrolling through some memes when he heard them downstairs, and immediately turned his computer off so that he could go and say hi.

He was the last one downstairs as the wheelchair stair lift took forever to move.

Robb had already said hi to Arya and Rickon, so he walked over towards him next.

“Bran!”, he smiled warmly through his auburn beard – which had gotten thicker since the last time Bran had seen him. _It looks good_ , Bran thought. He wished that he could grow a beard.

“Robb!”, Bran smiled back. It had been a long time since he’d seen his brother.

As they pulled apart from their hug, mother said to them all, “perfect timing, dinner’s ready now”.

“Perfect, I’m starving”, Robb replied.

As they were all sitting down, Jeyne spoke up, “so, we’ve brought presents for you all”.

 _That’s kind of her_ , Bran thought. First, she gave a bottle of whiskey to father – _his favourite_ , Bran recognised. Mother received tickets for a spa day. _Another good gift_ , Bran thought to himself. Arya was given season tickets for Winterfell FC games.

After that one, Bran knew that Robb and Jeyne were trying to butter them up for some reason. After all, season tickets weren’t cheap.

Rickon got tickets for a band he liked. _Wow, they’re really killing it with the presents_ , Bran thought again. Rickon was like Jon in the sense that they both liked going to concerts and festivals. Both of their wardrobes were filled with band shirts, black jeans, and flannels.

“The Brotherhood Without Banners!”, Rickon said excitedly. “They’re my favourite! Thank you so much!”.

Bran was excited for his present now. They ended up getting him a brand-new music deck, stating that he needed an update from his one that was now over 7 months old. Bran was beaming – mixing music was one of his favourite hobbies. It touched him that Robb and/or Jeyne had remembered that. He also knew that one of these wasn’t cheap, so he appreciated it even more.

During the meal, Robb was asking Arya about her upcoming fencing competition. She was competing in the U-18 Northern fencing championships, which was the biggest competition a young fencer in the North could compete in. Bran knew that Arya’s dream was to compete in the Olympics one day, so doing well in this tournament would mean a lot to her.

Bran was glad that Robb had gotten her talking about something she was passionate about. If she hadn’t been talking, she surely would’ve been trying to get him to tell the rest of them about Meera.

When Arya was finished talking, he mentally prepared himself for Arya to start piling the pressure onto him.

However, Jeyne spoke up first. “By the way, Robb and I have some news”, she started. “We’re getting married”, she smiled. Robb was smiling like an idiot.

Mother looked like she was going to cry. Father stood up and hugged Robb, congratulating him. When Arya went to hug Jeyne, telling her that she would be glad to call her sister, Bran noticed the ring on Jeyne’s left hand which he’d somehow missed before.

“Congratulations”, Bran added to the rest of his family’s best wishes.

 _That might be me and Meera one day_ , he thought, wondering if they would ever get that far. He quickly pushed those thoughts from his mind, though. It was too soon to be thinking about that now.

Arya must’ve been able to hear what was going on in his head, as she then said, “Bran has some similar news”.

Bran shot her a deadly stare before Robb joked, “you’re not engaged too, are you?”.

“No”, Bran replied, “but I’m seeing someone”.

He could see the confused look on mother’s face as she tried to figure out who he could’ve been seeing recently given that he hadn’t left home since leaving the hospital. Father had already seemed to have figured it out, as he was giving his son a nod of approval. Rickon obviously knew already.

“Meera Reed”, Bran told the other three who didn’t know.

Bran could practically see the cogs turning in his mother’s head. Her reaction was the one he cared about the most. She’d barely been ok with allowing either of the Reeds to come over to the Stark home, and she still forbade Bran from going over to their house. Bran suspected that his mother wouldn’t accept his new relationship (if he could even call it that) so readily.

“Wow, Bran”, Robb broke the silence. “Congrats”.

“Thanks, Robb”, Bran replied, turning his attention back towards his mother.

Mother smiled. “Yes, that’s very good, Bran”. From the tone of her voice, Bran knew that she’d be having a chat with him later on after everyone else had gone upstairs to their respective rooms.

He was not looking forward to that.


	13. Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meera takes Bran out on a date.

“How’d it go with your mum?”, Meera asked him the next day. “I’m guessing it went well, considering that she let you come out with me”.

Last night mother had told him that she wasn’t happy about him seeing Meera. Bran understood why, but mother had also told him that she knew Meera was a good girl and would take care of him. She was just worried. Bran had managed to convince her that her worries were natural but unreasonable. Mother had thankfully agreed.

Bran told Meera as such, and she nodded. “I expected her to put up more of a fight”, Meera admitted. “My own parents expressed concerns about the age gap between us”, she told him.

“Age gap?”, Bran laughed, “you’re only two years older than me”.

“I know”, Meera laughed as well. Bran didn’t know why, but he found Meera’s laugh intoxicating. He was always trying to draw one out of her.

Meera was young for her year group anyway. She would be turning 18 at the end of August – a fact that Bran was well aware of. He wanted to get her a really good birthday present, but he wasn’t sure what to get yet.

“Where are you taking me anyway?”, Bran asked. Meera had insisted on getting Bran out of his house. She knew that he’d spent weeks cooped up at home and was adamant that he needed to get outside. He’d been reluctant, but she was very convincing – telling him that it could be a date.

“You’ll see”, she giggled. They were going through the woods near the Stark mansion. Bran and his siblings used to play hide-and-seek here when they were younger, but usually they just played in the enormous garden they had. Sometimes their parents would drive them down to the lake near their house. Bran had good memories of there – his father, Robb, Jon, Theon, and occasionally uncle Benjen would all go fishing; mother and Sansa would swim and sunbathe; leaving Arya, Bran and Rickon to their own devices. Bran thought to himself that he would like to take Meera to that lake one day.

They went a bit further, and Bran could start to see where she was taking him.

“How do you know about this place?”, Bran asked. It was the location of a weirwood tree. They were extremely rare trees – barely any existed south of the Neck, and even in the North they were very rare. They were more common beyond-the-Wall, though. Bran remembered that they’d seen one during their trip up to the Frostfangs.

“Jojen told me about it”, Meera answered. Bran tried to think when him and Jojen had ever been here. Bran blushed, realising that they’d smoked weed here once. He hoped that Jojen had left that part out when he’d told Meera about this place.

Meera sat on a tree stump, taking out a blanket from her bag and putting some food out on it. Bran sat next to her in his wheelchair.

“I thought this would be a nice place to have a picnic”, Meera said. Bran appreciated that. When she’d convinced him to come out for a date, he’d been worried that she might take him to Wintertown. He wasn’t quite ready to be out in public just yet. Even though this was outside, it still felt private and intimate.

“Thanks”, Bran thanked, “for all of this”.

“No problem”, she gave him a smile which made his belly flutter. “How are your classes going?”, she asked him.

“Good”, he replied, “Mr Rivers says that I should be all caught up much sooner than expected”. Mr Rivers had shaved his beard the other day. It had been weird to see his tutor without it – he looked like a different person entirely.

“That’s amazing, Bran”, Meera said, “you’ve always been so smart”. Bran blushed at that. He wasn’t used to someone being so supportive of him.

“And you?”, Bran asked as he took a bite from an apple. “How’s your internship going?”. He knew that Meera had been doing an internship with a local ecological study group in the Wolfswood, taking samples of the earth, surveying trees, and other things like that.

“I’m really liking it”, Meera answered. “They’re all so passionate about what they do. I don’t think I want to do something like that for a living, though”.

“No?”, Bran prompted.

“Nah”, she replied, “I think I’d prefer to go into marine biology. I love the sea. Maybe I’d work down in White Harbour or something”, she said.

Bran made a mental note that Meera liked the sea. There weren’t any beaches around Winterfell. Being in the heart of the North at Winterfell meant that the closest coastline was many miles away. But Bran thought that someday in the future, when he knew how to drive, he could take her to the Stoney Shore or something.

“I’ve heard that White Harbour’s nice”, Bran commented. It was the second largest city in the North behind Winterfell. It was unique because of its more southern-oriented culture compared to the rest of the North. Him and his family had been down there once when he was very young. All he could really remember was that the seafood there was delicious. It would be good, especially given that the seafood was all freshly caught from the sea.

“It’s probably much nicer than Greywater, to be honest”, Meera laughed.

 _Why does that laugh affect me so much?_ Bran mused, feeling his smile widen.

She was probably right. Greywater was down in the Neck, where she had grown up. The Neck was very isolated from the rest of the world because of its swamps and marshes. The crannogmen – the people who live there – mostly eat frogs. That wasn’t exactly a delicacy that Bran was keen on trying. When he told Meera that, she laughed again (making him grin like an idiot once again), telling him that she didn’t miss that part of living in the Neck.

Meera’s family had moved to Winterfell some years ago. Her father came up to work in the Stark law firm and had brought his family up with him. Jojen was at that age where he was just starting high school, so he’d been able to slip seamlessly into life at Winterfell. Meera, on the other hand, was forced to change high schools in the middle of her education. She quickly lost touch with her friends back in the Neck and had found it difficult to make new friends in Winterfell, so she chose to mostly spend her time with her little brother and his friend. At first, Bran and Jojen had taken pity on Meera, but after a while they actually started to enjoy spending their time with her.

“This was really nice”, Bran said as they finished the last of the food she had brought. “I’m glad you didn’t bring any frogs”, he joked. It was an awful joke but she laughed anyway, giving him a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

“I’m glad you liked it”, Meera smiled. “Would you be up for going out on another date some time?”, she asked.

“Of course”, he smiled as he watched her eyes light up at his answer.

She walked him back to his home, giving him a kiss on the cheek since his mother was watching them from the window.

“See you again soon”, she said as she walked away.

“See you”, he replied, waving goodbye.

“How was it?”, mother asked when he came through the front door. _She must’ve been really worried_ , Bran knew. He didn’t want to think about how long she’d been waiting there, watching out the window and waiting for him to return.

“It was great”, Bran responded shortly, not really wanting to go into detail about these sorts of things with his mother.

In truth, it’d been better than great. If he had to use a word, he would say it had been _refreshing_ – simply because it was the first time since his accident that he’d forgotten that he was a cripple. When he was with Meera, he didn’t feel like a burden or a liability. No, he felt _good_ when he was with her.


	14. Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Stark family receives some news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very much just a filler/world-building one, so I'll upload the next chapter today as well.

Summer was now in full swing, and most of the Stark family was now back home.

Robb and Jeyne had found a nice flat not too far from home, so they came over every weekend to spend time with the rest of the family. Both of them had just started working and buying the flat had used up most of their savings, so they planned on making their engagement a long one. Robb had told them that it would be at least a year before they even started to think about a wedding, and probably two years until the wedding would actually happen.

Jon had also moved back home, taking up residence in his old room. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Dany had chosen to move back to Dragonstone where her family lived. Both of them were focusing on their careers before they made any plans to live somewhere together in the future.

Sansa was the only Stark kid who hadn’t come back to Winterfell. She was spending her summer down in Highgarden with her girlfriend Margaery, but she promised to come up and visit them in Winterfell soon.

It was a Saturday night, and they were all having dinner together like the old days before his older siblings had started going off to uni. It was good to see Jon again. Jon was telling them about his plans to join the military when father announced that he had something to tell them.

“I have some bad news”, father began, getting everyone’s attention. “I got a call this morning from Commander Mormont at Castle Black. Benjen has gone missing”.

“Missing?”, Robb echoed.

“Apparently he was on patrol near Hardhome”, father continued. “Him and six others went missing about a week ago”.

“How do they know he’s missing and not just… I don’t know, taking a while to get back?”, Jon questioned.

Father had a sad look in his eyes. “They lost contact with him about a week ago”, he clarified. “They’ve sent three search parties out, but there’s no trace of any of them”.

“What are they going to do?”, Arya asked.

“The only thing they can do”, father replied. “Wait. And hope”.

Bran was sad – he’d always liked uncle Benjen, though his visits to Winterfell had been sporadic ever since he’d joined the military. When he was very young, Bran remembered Robb telling him that father didn’t like the fact that uncle Benjen was in the military given what had happened to aunt Lyanna’s boyfriend – Jon’s real father. Apparently Benjen had reasoned that he didn’t have a pregnant girlfriend to leave behind, so it didn’t matter.

When Bran got older, he realised that uncle Benjen had joined the military to deal with the grief of losing his father, brother and sister in such a short period of time. That was the reason why he kept himself busy at one of the loneliest corners of the world. The lands beyond the Wall weren’t as dangerous as they were back in the day. Nowadays, the Wall wasn’t even really a wall – there was now a massive opening next to Eastwatch-by-the-sea. It didn’t matter, though – the freefolk who lived beyond the Wall were now a peaceful people, unlike throughout history when they were often called wildlings because of their constant attacks and raids against the lands south of the Wall.

When Jon had told his family that he wanted to join the military, he said that the reason was so that he could be like uncle Benjen. Jon had always looked up to uncle Benjen, but Bran knew that there was another reason for Jon wanting to enlist – he also wanted to be like the father he had never gotten the chance to meet. _Arthur Dayne_ , Bran recalled Jon’s father’s name. The war that he’d died in was still going on to some extent. That war was started by the Westerosi government to end the outdated practice of slavery in Slaver’s Bay. It had been an initial success, but terrorist groups had started to appear in Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen, which forced some Westerosi troops to stay behind in order to prevent them from reintroducing slavery. In the news, there was a national debate about whether or not to send more troops to Slaver’s Bay. The current president of Westeros, Petyr Baelish, was in favour of increasing military action in Essos, but the younger and typically more liberal opposition was against it.

Father had expressed his concerns about Jon joining the military, and now that uncle Benjen was missing Bran supposed that father had an even better reason for not wanting Jon to enlist. Bran thought that was reasonable – the Stark family had already lost too much. On the other hand, Jon was an adult and could make his own decisions. It was a difficult situation.

The rest of dinner was spent arguing over that exact question, though. Jon was still adamant about wanting to join the military, while father tried to talk him out of it. Bran wasn’t so glad that the whole family was together again anymore – he’d forgotten about all the arguments that used to occur over the dinner table. Most of the time it was Sansa and Arya fighting, but when Sansa had left for uni (and when Arya had grown up a bit), dinner time at the Stark home was a lot more peaceful.

 _Not today, though_ , Bran thought.


	15. Learning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meera comforts Bran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is PURE smut ;)
> 
> Raising the rating to explicit just in case chapters like these are too much for the mature rating.

Meera had come to visit him the next day. He’d told her about uncle Benjen over the phone, and she’d insisted on coming over to cheer him up.

As it turned out, that consisted of them going to his room and making out. Bran wasn’t complaining though. After all, it was working.

“I’ve got a question for you”, Meera said, breaking their kiss.

“Sure”, Bran prompted.

“Am I the first girl you’ve ever been with?”, she asked.

Before he’d started dating her, he definitely would’ve lied and told her no. _Who am I kidding?_ Bran thought to himself, _even a couple of weeks ago I would’ve said no_. He was always embarrassed by the fact that he’d never even kissed a girl before.

“Yeah”, Bran answered, feeling a blush creeping up his cheeks.

Meera gave him a sweet look which made him blush even harder. He was glad that she didn’t use the opportunity to try and mock or pity him. No matter what it was, Meera always tried to be understanding and supportive with everything about him. Slowly, Bran felt himself start to trust Meera more and more.

“You’re so adorable, you know that?”, she smiled.

“ _Adorable_ isn’t exactly the word I’m going for”, Bran bantered.

“Well what were you going for?”, Meera teased.

“Given that we were just kissing, I was hoping for something more like _hot_ or _sexy_ ”, Bran responded, feeling himself mirror her smile.

“Oh, believe me Bran – you are most certainly both of those things”, she said to him, punctuating her assurance with a warm kiss. “You could do with a haircut, though”, she told him.

 _It’s true, my hair is way too long_ , Bran thought. His mother had been trying to get him to go to the barber for weeks now, but he always refused her. He would probably go now though, especially now that Meera wanted him to get it cut.

“True”, Bran replied, kissing her again.

When he pulled back, Meera had a look on her face which he couldn’t quite figure out. He liked to think that he knew her well enough to know what she was thinking just by looking at her face, but this was a look he’d never seen on her before.

“What’s up?”, he asked.

“It’s just that…”, she started, “…we’ve been doing this for a couple of weeks now”.

“And?”, he encouraged her to go on.

“And I… I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything that you’re not ready for… but I’ve been wondering what it would feel like to do more than this”, she said, biting her lip.

“What do you mean?”, Bran questioned, hoping she was saying what he thought she was saying. “Like… sex?”.

“Maybe”, she replied. “I don’t know. It’s just that… can I confess something?”. Bran nodded. “I’ve never been with someone else before either”, she admitted. Bran was surprised by that. He couldn’t believe that someone as pretty as Meera was choosing him of all people to share these first experiences with.

“You’re a really great kisser”, Bran told her truthfully.

“Thanks”, she nervously smiled at him. “So… what do you think about trying some new things together?”.

“I thought you’d never ask”, Bran smirked, trying to look seductive – although he assumed that it probably came across as more _cute_ than _seductive_.

Meera leaned in to kiss him again before pulling back and leaning back in his bed. “I want you to take your shirt off”, she told him, her voice slightly deeper than usual.

Bran obeyed, pulling his shirt off. He didn’t feel ashamed of his own body, but he knew that he was pretty skinny by most people’s standards – unlike Robb and Jon who both had muscular beach bodies.

However, Meera’s eyes darkened as they drank in the view of him shirtless. It made Bran feel a lot more confident. Confident enough to say, “your turn”.

She complied, taking her own top off. Bran allowed himself to look, having never seen her like this before. She was wearing a lacy green bra which matched her eyes, and her small frame was slim and toned. Bran let his eyes roam over her body, taking in the sight of her small, perky breasts, flat abdomen, and toned legs which poked out of her shorts.

“Wow”, Bran whispered, not sure if he had meant to say that out loud or not.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, Stark”, Meera winked, nearly making him swoon.

“Can I…?”, he asked, lifting his hands up.

“Sure”, she smiled, combing one hand through his hair while the other stroked his arm.

He gently cupped her breasts and softly squeezed, looking up at her to make sure she was alright.

“Don’t be shy”, she told him. “It’s just me”.

He let his hands roam all over her body – her belly, her arms, her back, her thighs. He was very aware that he probably looked like an idiot with his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open, but in that moment he couldn’t find it in himself to care. It wasn’t just that he was touching a girl for the first time, it was because it was with _Meera_. That made this moment so much more special.

“You’re perfect”, Bran breathed.

Meera beamed at him. “So are you”, she replied.

Spurred on by her words, he leaned in and kissed the top of her breasts, drawing out a delicious gasp from her. Meera unhooked her bra and let it fall off of her chest. If Bran had thought that he’d been amazed before, then he didn’t know how to describe himself now. He captured one of her nipples in his mouth, with one of his hands massaging the other breast while his other hand firmly grabbed her tight, perky ass.

“I need more”, Meera sighed into Bran’s ear.

She took his hand gently in hers, whispering into his ear, “are you sure you’re ok with this?”. Bran bit his lip, nodding. “Are you sure?”, she asked again, wanting to double-check that he was ready to take the next step.

“Yeah”, was all that Bran managed to get out.

“Good”, Meera replied, simultaneously kissing his neck as she moved his hand beneath her panties.

“Fuck”, Bran choked, lost in the moment. She was nipping and sucking at his neck, which he knew would raise hickeys later. He didn’t care though, even if it meant that Arya would relentlessly tease him about it for at least a week.

He kept his fingers pressed still and motionless against her centre. He didn’t really know what to do and was afraid of accidentally hurting her.

“Let me show you”, Meera muttered into his cheek as if she was reading his mind. She planted a kiss there as her hands massaged his scalp.

She lied down on his bed, resting her head against his pillows. _Gods, what a pretty sight_ , Bran thought to himself. Meera pulled her shorts and panties down, tossing them from the bed onto his floor.

“Is your door definitely locked?”, Meera suddenly asked. “The last thing I want is for someone to walk in right now”.

“It’s locked”, Bran answered. He always made sure to lock the door whenever he and Meera were alone together in his room.

“Perfect”, Meera smiled. “Come here”, she commanded. He obeyed, using the strength in his arms to prop himself over her while he senselessly kissed her all over her face. He wanted to show her exactly how fascinated he was by that face. That face which could make him smile and brighten up his day when nothing else could. He kissed her lips, nose, cheeks, and everything else he could reach, making her giggle beneath him. _That’s the most beautiful sound in the world_ , Bran thought.

Meera took one of his hands again and directed it down towards where she needed it the most. He focused his attention down there, eager to learn how to please her. She moved one of his fingers along her wetness, making his head spin.

“I’m gonna put it inside me now”, Meera stated, her eyes seeking for permission yet again.

“Ok”, Bran breathed.

Slowly, she pushed his finger in, and Bran could feel her inner walls stretch around it. He let her move it in at her own pace, allowing her to become accustomed to the feeling of him inside her.

Meera’s face was scrunched up in concentration, her brows furrowed and a thin line of sweat forming on her forehead – partly due to the summer heat, Bran presumed. He scanned her face for any indication that he should stop lest he accidentally hurt her.

By the time his finger was all the way in, Meera opened her eyes. “That’s where it is”, she told him. Bran chewed on his lip, nodding. He held her gaze, hoping to convey what he felt for her through his eyes. She was the only person in the world he wanted to do this with, and from the look on her face he knew that she was thinking the exact same thing.

He began to slowly thrust his finger in and out of her, relishing in the delicious moans that came out of her mouth. He bent down to make his own marks against her neck, eliciting even louder moans from her.

Bran put his thumb on her bottom lip in an attempt to quieten her down. It would be just as bad if one of his family members heard them if they happened to be walking past his room. However, Meera licked Bran’s thumb which had made him moan even louder than her. His whole body felt as boneless as his legs in that instant.

“Curl your finger inside of me”, Meera instructed him. “Oh yeah, just like that”, she squeaked. Keeping his finger inside of her, she pressed his thumb against her centre but a little bit further up from where his finger had entered her. “That’s where the clit is”, she sighed, her eyes lulling to the side.

Bran maintained a light pressure where she had left his thumb but pressed harder when she told him to. He committed where her clit was to memory, promising himself that he would never forget it.

Feeling adventurous and bold, Bran pushed a second finger inside her, twisting his arm so that the palm of his hand was now rubbing against her clit.

“Ah!”, Meera yelped, making Bran stop immediately.

“I’m so sorry”, Bran apologised. “Did it hurt much?”.

“No, don’t worry, babe”, she assured him. “I was just surprised is all. Keep going”.

He kept on going, but gently. He curled and stretched his fingers out, exploring what Meera liked the most. She communicated with him as to which things she preferred and which things he shouldn’t do. He followed her instructions, memorising every single detail.

“Yeah, right there. Just like that”, she gasped. He repeated what his fingers were doing over and over, trying his best to maintain the speed and pressure which had seemed to be doing so well.

“You’re gonna make me cum, Bran”, she told him. He kissed her hard, clashing their teeth and tongues together. It lacked the finesse of their usual kisses since he was hungrily swallowing down the noises she was making in order to avoid alerting the whole house as to what they were doing.

He felt her release as her walls tightened around his fingers while her body shook and shivered against his bed. She was chanting his name into his mouth as she came, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist in order to keep him there.

As she recovered, Bran left a trail of hot kisses along her neck while she tried to get her breathing back to normal.

“Can I return the favour?”, Meera eventually asked, smirking as she grabbed his cock.

Her face went confused for a moment before Bran explained, “it doesn’t work. I literally still can’t feel anything from the waist down”. That was partially true – he’d been beginning to feel some sensation back in his legs thanks to his physical therapy sessions, but his cock had refused to get hard ever since the accident. He was a little bit embarrassed because he genuinely thought that Meera was gorgeous, but his body said otherwise.

“That’s ok, babe”, she said. _Babe_ – Bran liked the pet name which Meera had just given him. He would start calling her that too. “We can wait until you’re ready and able”, she promised.

Bran kissed her one last time before she curled up into his body and put his arms around her so that they were spooning.

He couldn’t believe that he had such a stunning girl who cared about him so much. He wondered what he must’ve done in order to deserve this.


	16. Champion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Stark family goes to support Arya in her fencing competition.

Sansa had finally come back to Winterfell, so the whole Stark family was back together again. It was also early August, which meant that Arya’s fencing competition was under way.

Sansa had primarily returned up north to support her sister, but she also took the opportunity to visit her family for a while before she went back to Highgarden.

Somehow Arya had managed to secure tickets for all of the Starks plus Gendry to attend the competition, so they all went to watch it together to support her.

Bran always knew that his sister was great at fencing, but seeing it first-hand never failed to amaze him.

The first rounds of the competition were a breeze. The stronger candidates progressed easily, as expected. Arya was among them. Every time she won a match, her mentor Syrio Forel would come over with a towel, a bottle of water, and heaps of praise. Syrio had been coaching Arya for years, helping her to achieve her dream of one day competing in the Olympics. Bran knew how much this competition meant to her. In order to get one step closer towards achieving her dream, she would have to win this competition. Second or third place wouldn’t do if she wanted to represent the North one day. She’d told them before the competition had started that there were scouts here looking for young fencers with good potential. Being the U-18 competition, this was the last chance for young Northern fencers like Arya to show off their talent at the youth level.

The whole Stark family along with Gendry sat together near the front. The venue wasn’t packed, as the spectators were mainly just the families of those competing. As a result, it didn’t feel too crowded and they were able to feel comfortable as they watched. Mother and father had packed snacks for them, as the whole competition would take hours to finish. Bran didn’t mind, though – he wanted to be here to support his sister.

Whenever there was a break between the rounds, Arya would come over and hug each of them. They would all dump their congratulations onto her for doing so well, and a smile would light up her face in response. Arya never looked happier than when she was fencing.

It was now the early afternoon, and the competition started to get more serious. The opponents were now more well-matched, and all of a sudden Arya was no longer easily beating her opposition. She was still doing brilliantly, though, fighting hard to make sure she won every single match. Now Syrio was giving her some constructive criticism between the matches to make sure that she would do better and better each time.

And now it was the end of the day. Arya had made it to the final and was up against a girl whose name Bran couldn’t remember. This was the most even match Bran had seen yet, and he was genuinely worried that Arya might lose this one. He knew that the rest of his family felt the same way, given that they were all being uncharacteristically quiet – watching the match with bated breaths.

It came down to the narrowest of margins, Bran knew. He didn’t know a lot about fencing, but just by looking at the scoreboard he could tell that they were neck-and-neck. But towards the end, Arya had a slight edge. Jon told Bran that if Arya won the next point then she would win the competition.

Bran could barely watch. If he felt nervous and anxious, he had no idea how Arya must be feeling.

But clearly her nerves didn’t get the better of her. She moved like a dancer, swinging her blade delicately yet powerfully before she thrust it firmly against her opponent. A buzzer went off, signalling that she had won the point and by extension the competition.

All of the Starks as well as Gendry stood up and ran towards Arya, hugging and enveloping her. Bran couldn’t stand up, so he stayed put in his wheelchair and smiled as everyone enthused over her victory. Moments later, Syrio came over with a bottle of champagne and sprayed it all over them, making Bran laugh.

A part of Bran felt sad, though. _That can never be me_ , he thought. _I can never do any sports ever again_. There was a small chance that he might be able to walk normally again, but he remembered when Dr Luwin had told him that anything more than that just wasn’t a realistic possibility.

Nevertheless, in that moment the only thing he could think about was how proud he was of his sister’s achievement.


	17. Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran asks for some advice from his sister.

“Hi, Sansa”, Bran said to his oldest sister.

Sansa was staying in her old room at the Stark mansion for a couple of days before she headed back down south to Highgarden. Bran took his sister’s presence as an opportunity to seek some much-needed advice.

“Hi, Bran”, Sansa smiled at him, putting down the book she was reading.

“I kinda… uh, need some help”, he started.

“Oh?”, Sansa prompted.

“So… I guess you’ve heard about me and Meera?”, he asked rhetorically. She nodded. “It’s her birthday at the end of the month but I don’t know what to get her”.

“I see”, Sansa replied. “You want to get her something special”.

“Right”, Bran responded. “Exactly. The problem is… I want to get her something that will mean a lot to her. Like, something personal, you know?”.

“You know her better than I do, Bran”, Sansa said. “I don’t know if I can help you”.

“But do you have any ideas?”, Bran asked. “Because I’m really stuck here. What’s a really good present that Margaery has gotten for you before?”.

“Well, I’m not sure if the presents Marg has gotten for me would be good presents for you to give to Meera”, Sansa began. “Maybe you should make something for her? Like… I don’t know, a piece of art?”.

“That’s perfect!”, Bran exclaimed.

“Wait, you’re really gonna do some artwork for her?”, Sansa queried.

“Yeah… I mean, no”, Bran said. “No, I’m gonna make a song for her”.

Sansa’s eyes lit up at that. “Oh, Bran! That would be perfect! You can use your music deck in your room”.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking”, Bran smiled. “Thank you so much!”.

“No problem, Bran”, Sansa replied. “I love you”.

“Love you too”, Bran responded before wheeling himself towards the stairs. If he wanted to make a good song, he’d have to start working on it as soon as possible.


	18. Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran visits Meera for her birthday.

Mother was driving him over to the Reeds’ house for Meera’s birthday. It would be his first time there since before the accident. It had taken a bit of convincing, but Bran was eventually able to get his mother to allow him to visit them.

_“Mother, please. I want to be able to see her on her birthday”_ , he had said. He’d spent weeks preparing the song he had made for her, and it would’ve been heart-breaking if he wasn’t able to show it to her on her birthday.

He had more surprises for her as well. The first one was that he had finally finished his lessons with Mr Rivers, meaning that he could spend more time with her. She’d just finished with her internship too, so now they could both afford to spend some precious days together before he went back to school and she went off to uni.

Their car pulled up in the Reeds’ driveway. Bran opened his door and stepped out, standing tall and walking unassisted on two feet. That was the other surprise he had for Meera – his physical therapy had been going brilliantly and now he could now walk independently for a short period of time before it became too painful. He had to do a series of stretches beforehand, and he carried around a pair of crutches just in case, but other than that he could more or less walk normally. He hadn’t told Meera about it yet, and he couldn’t wait to see her smile when she saw him walk through her door.

Bran knocked on the door, and it was Jojen who answered.

“Bran!”, he smiled, hugging his friend. Jojen already knew about Bran being able to walk, so it didn’t surprise him to see Bran standing on two feet.

“Jojen!”, Bran returned the hug. Bran was about to ask him how he was doing, but then he caught the sight of Meera over his friend’s shoulder.

“Bran”, Meera breathed, a look of shock on her face.

“Meera”, Bran responded, trying to hide the excitement in his voice – though he wasn’t quite able to suppress the goofy smile which was forming on his face.

She walked slowly towards him, looking at him up and down as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Jojen stepped to the side to give the two of them some space.

“Bran”, Meera said again, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Yes?”, Bran giggled.

She leapt onto him before he could react, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her face into his neck. It was all he could do to maintain his balance at first, but when he steadied himself, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

“Happy birthday”, he said, gently stroking her hair.

“This is the best present ever”, Meera spoke into his neck, planting a kiss there.

“Come on”, Jojen interjected. “Let’s go and sit down”.

The three of them went into the living room where there was tea and cakes. Jojen sat on one end of the sofa while Meera curled into Bran’s lap on the other end.

“You two are adorable”, Jojen smiled. Bran blushed at that. He still felt a little bit awkward about dating his best friend’s sister. Jojen definitely approved and was very supportive, but Bran couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty about all of the things he did with Meera. He could barely make eye contact with Jojen anymore, afraid that if he did then Jojen would see all of the thoughts that Bran had about Meera.

The three of them spent some time together just catching up. Not much was new with Jojen, and Meera mainly talked about her preparations for uni. Bran told them about him being finished with Mr Rivers. Jojen congratulated him for it, and Meera snuggled closer into him and reaffirmed just how amazing she thought he was.

Bran blushed again. He never thought much of himself, but when he was around Meera he felt like he was on top of the world – like his smallest achievements were the best things ever. It always made his heart swell whenever Meera gave him one of her soft smiles which she only gave to him, or whenever she said how great she thought he was.

“So it looks like we only have a couple of weeks together before you head down to King’s Landing”, Bran said.

“Let’s make the most of it”, Meera replied. “I want to see you every day before I have to go”.

“Me too”, Bran smiled. Between her internship and his commitments with Mr Rivers and Dr Wolkan, they had only been able to see each other briefly on the weekends. Now that he could walk, he wanted to take her out on more dates before they had to spend months apart.

Meera’s parents returned home from work later on. They were very happy to see Bran, which made him feel bad for not visiting sooner. Bran had told his mother that it wasn’t fair that Meera’s parents didn’t get to see him at all, especially given that he was now dating Meera. After all, Meera was allowed to visit the Stark mansion any time she wanted, but until now Bran hadn’t been allowed to visit the Reeds.

They talked to Bran a bit until they went to cook dinner, leaving Bran with the two Reed kids again.

Jojen put the tv on while they waited for dinner. Bran took the opportunity to whisper to Meera, “I have a present for you”.

“What is it?”, Meera whispered back.

“It’s a surprise”, he replied, resting his chin on her head. “I’ll show you later, when it’s just the two of us”.

He thought he’d said that discreetly enough, but Jojen was glancing sideways at them with a smirk on his face.

_It’s not that_ , Bran internally joked, knowing exactly what Jojen was thinking.

After dinner Jojen excused himself to bed, claiming that he was tired. Both Bran and Meera knew that he was only going to bed so that the two of them could have some time alone. Bran appreciated that a lot, making a mental note to thank his friend later.

Meera took Bran to her room. His legs were beginning to hurt, so he had to use his crutches to get up the stairs.

It was the first time that Bran had been in Meera’s room since way before the accident, and it was exactly how he remembered it – only this time being here made his heart pound rapidly.

“So”, Meera smirked. “This _present_ … are you going to give it to me now?”, she asked, pushing him onto her bed.

“ _That_ present will come soon”, Bran answered. “But first, I’ve got something to show you”.

“Oh”, Meera responded, sounding genuinely surprised. “Well, I don’t know if it can beat seeing you walk again. I still think that was the best birthday present I’ve ever received”.

Bran’s heart melted again. He pressed a kiss to Meera’s lips before pulling back and taking out his phone.

“Can I?”, he asked, gesturing to her laptop.

“Sure”, she smiled.

He connected his phone to her laptop and got his song ready.

“I made a song for you”, he told her, mirroring the smile that broke out on her face. “It’s called _Smile_ ”. That made her smile wider. “Your smile is so beautiful”, he continued, kissing her. “So I wanted to make something that does it justice”.

He could tell that there was a lot she wanted to say, but she kept quiet so that he could play the song first.

He pressed play, lying back on her bed with her.

He mixed the beat himself, making it slow but catchy. After he’d done that, he did the vocals. He never considered himself a good singer, so he’d used some autotune to make it sound better. He was proud of the song, but he was also a little bit afraid that Meera wouldn’t like it. _Of course she’ll like it_ , he reassured himself. It was easy to criticise his own music and his own voice, but he knew that Meera would love the song.

Bran watched her as she lay there, listening with her eyes closed. When the song ended, she opened her eyes and looked at him.

_I love those eyes_ , Bran allowed himself to think. _I love her_ , he realised. The feelings he had for her were _definitely_ love. Admitting that to himself felt like a revelation, but it also felt like he’d known that for a while now.

“I love you”, Meera said, as if the same thoughts were going through her head in that moment.

Bran found the courage to say it back. “I love you too”, he replied, his voice cracking as happy tears fell from his eyes.


	19. Farewell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran says goodbye to Meera.

The time that Bran and Meera had together before they were going to be separated went by in a flash. After they’d told each other that they loved one another, there was scarcely a moment when they weren’t together. There were so many things that they wanted to do together, but they had no time left.

“I’m going to miss you”, Bran muttered into her lips on the last night they had together.

“Me too”, Meera smiled sadly. “But you can call me whenever you like”.

“Yeah”, Bran responded, his eyes falling to her lips. She leaned in and started kissing him senseless.

Ever since they’d confessed their love, it was impossible to keep their hands off of each other. Pretty much every night was spent in each other’s arms. Tonight, they were cuddled naked together in Meera’s bed. Bran had done all sorts of things to Meera that night. She’d allowed him to go down on her, instructing him on how to use his tongue to get her off. Bran loved making her come apart under his touch so much that he almost didn’t even care that she still couldn’t return the favour. It was a shame, but she kept on reassuring him that she would wait until his body was ready.

Still, the longer it took for his cock to get hard again, the more insecure he felt about it. Nothing Meera could say would make him feel any less embarrassed about not being able to get hard for her. He wanted her _so much_ , but his body continued to betray him. He’d hoped and prayed that he would get the chance to be with her properly before she left for uni, but it was looking unlikely.

“I want to ask you something”, Bran started, breaking their kiss.

“Hm?”, Meera prompted.

“I don’t want you to meet some other guy at KLU”, he confessed. “I want us to pick this up again when you come back for the Christmas holidays”.

“Are you asking me if I want to make this exclusive?”, Meera questioned.

“Yeah”, Bran replied, swallowing hard.

“Of course”, she smiled at him. “I don’t want to be with anyone else”.

Her words evaporated any worries that he had.

“Same here”, he affirmed. “I think about you all the time, and I can’t even imagine doing this with anyone else”.

“I love you so much”, Meera kissed him. “Don’t you ever forget that. I’ll be back in the North before you know it”.

He somehow doubted that – the time they were going to spend apart would probably feel like forever, but he didn’t voice that concern. Instead, he just replied with, “I love you too”.


	20. Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran copes with his time apart from Meera.

The first few days after Meera had left for uni were ok for Bran. He tried his best to keep himself busy, and he spent more time with his family to fill the void that Meera had left.

But things quickly became sad.

He sorely missed being able to spend time with her. His days felt empty and his nights were cold and lonely.

Bran tried to call her as often as he deemed acceptable. It was always great to hear her voice, but he knew that she was busy, so he didn’t want to intrude on her time too much.

Soon enough, though, he was back to school. That made things a little bit better, since his schoolwork distracted him enough so that he wasn’t always thinking about Meera.

Despite this, he still couldn’t help feeling lonelier than ever. Sansa and Arya had gone off to uni at the same time as Meera, and Robb was now working with father at the Stark law firm. Meanwhile, Jon had ended up joining the military, so he was posted up at Castle Black. As a result, the only people he got to see often were mother and Rickon. He would occasionally see father, but he was usually tired after work and didn’t have the energy to spend too much time with him. Robb and Jeyne would sometimes visit for dinner, which Bran always looked forward to.

Bran also made an effort to reconnect with Jojen. He was acutely aware that he’d been neglecting his friendship with Jojen in favour of spending more time with Meera, so now that Meera was away he wanted to make the effort to spend more time with Jojen. Bran obviously had selfish reasons for wanting to spend more time with Jojen – it meant that there was another person he could talk to in order to feel less lonely, and it also meant that they could get high together a lot.

Towards the end of that first school term, Bran started feeling a sense of excitement creeping up on him. He was usually excited around this time of year because of Christmas and his birthday, but now the prospect of seeing Meera again gave him another reason to be excited. He made many plans for what they could do when they were back together during the holidays.

One of those plans was an old plan he’d had – the one that Arya had prevented by blackmailing him for his weed. Him and Jojen had bought a lot from their dealer, and Bran was saving some for him and Meera. He didn’t feel anxious about asking her anymore – he felt more than comfortable enough with her now to ask if she wanted to do it.

The frequency of their calls had increased massively as the Christmas holidays approached. In the week running up to when they were set to see each other again, they called each other 2, 3, and sometimes even 4 times a day. They knew each other’s schedules well enough to know when they were free, so it was almost like whenever they weren’t otherwise occupied, they were talking to each other. They were also messaging each other constantly, mostly talking about how excited they were to see each other again and what they would do when they were reunited.

And now it was the last night before Meera would return to Winterfell. Bran couldn’t sleep, feeling way too excited at the prospect of seeing her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They'll be reunited in the next chapter!


	21. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran is reunited with Meera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one, but I promise that the next chapter couple of chapters will be much much better! :)

For the first time in months, Bran was lying in bed with Meera. He’d waited for most of the day before seeing her – wanting her to reunite with her family first before he went to see her. In the evening he went over to her house, and now he was in bed with her.

They’d spent most of the evening enjoying one another, and now they were both exhausted. He cuddled her closer towards him, relishing the feeling of her in his arms again. He kissed her head, breathing in her scent.

“Gods, I’ve missed you so much”, he said.

“I love you”, Meera replied. “Not being with you has been so hard. I wish I could take you with me to King’s Landing”.

Bran laughed. “One day, babe”. He wanted to go to uni at KLU as well, but by the time he would start his first year she would be in her final year.

“We should do something tomorrow”, Meera said after a moment. “While we’re both here, we should make the most of this holiday”.

“Yeah”, Bran agreed. “What do you want to do?”.

“I don’t know”, Meera sighed. “Do you have any ideas?”.

“Snowboarding up in the Frostfangs?”, Bran joked.

“That’s not funny!”, Meera said sternly, her face dropping into an angry scowl which Bran had never seen before and definitely never wanted to see again.

“Sorry, sorry”, Bran apologised immediately. “You’re right, that was a bad thing to joke about”.

“It’s ok”, Meera snuggled closer into him. “It’s just that… I care about you a lot, Bran… and whenever I think about that accident it makes my heart break a little”.

Bran’s heart opened at that. “I’m never going to leave you”, he promised her. She looked at him with shiny eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “We might have to be apart sometimes, but you’ll never be alone”, he added.

“You know what?”, Meera responded, “I think you might be the best person I’ve ever met”.

“That’s funny – I was thinking the exact same thing”, Bran smiled at her.


	22. Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran and Meera spend some time together in Winterfell.

They had about a month together until they were going to be apart again. Bran intended to spend pretty much every day of it with her if he could manage it.

At the moment it felt like they had all the time in the world, but he knew that this wouldn’t last forever.

A lot of Christmas decorations were starting to pop up in and around Wintertown, and today they were going to the Christmas market in the town centre. He needed to buy some Christmas presents for his family, and she needed to do the same. He also wanted to get a present for her, but he was uninspired by what he saw. He’d put himself into a corner with regard to presents – he knew that he would never be able to top what he did for her on her birthday.

They were taking a break at around midday. His legs had started to feel a bit stiff, so they were sitting down in a coffee shop to rest for a while. He’d just gotten himself a black coffee and a toastie, while Meera had gotten some elaborate gingerbread latte which was covered in cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate and whipped cream, as well as a mince pie on the side.

“That looks very… Christmas-y”, Bran chuckled.

“They only sell this at this time of the year”, Meera replied with a sweet smile. “I love it, so I have to get it at least once this holiday”.

It was snowing lightly outside, but it wasn’t really settling on the ground. It just left a thin layer of powdery snow on the ground right now, but Bran knew that winters up here in the North could get harsh. Something in himself knew that this winter could be one of those ones.

_I’d like to get snowed in with Meera_ , he thought to himself. He let his mind wander to thoughts about getting stuck in a cabin with Meera, just the two of them with no connection to the outside world. They’d snuggle up in front of the fireplace and cook smores over it. _Yeah, I’d like that_ , Bran thought. He would try to make it happen one day.

“What are you thinking about?”, Meera poked him, bringing his attention back to her.

“Nothing”, Bran laughed. When Meera raised an eyebrow, he added. “Just thinking about some Christmas present ideas”, he lied.

He’d pretty much finished buying presents for his family, so that was all sorted. He knew what each of them liked, so buying presents for them was easy. He’d also figured out what he was going to do for Jojen – he’d found a really good brownie recipe online, so he was going to bake some weed brownies for him.

He still had no idea what he was going to get for Meera, though. _“This is the best present ever”_ , she had said in response to seeing him walk again. _How do I beat that?_ He asked himself.

Meera grabbed his hand, bringing his attention back to her again. “Stop worrying, there’s still loads of time until Christmas”, she told him. It was true, he still had a couple of weeks left until he should really start worrying.

They chatted for a bit while they finished their drinks, mostly talking about how Meera was doing at uni. She told him that she was really enjoying it apart from the fact that she had to be so far away from him. She promised him that next term she would take a weekend off and get a train to Winterfell to see him, so that at least they wouldn’t be apart for so long again.

“Are you ready to go?”, Meera asked after they were finished. The slight concern in her voice and on her face made Bran fall in love with her even more.

“Yeah, let’s go”, he answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is a very smutty one ;)


	23. Awoken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran makes a discovery.

Meera was staying over at the Stark mansion for the night, and she was curled up in Bran’s lap while they watched a movie with some others in the living room. At the moment, it was just Bran, Meera, Sansa and Arya watching the movie together. Robb and Jeyne were at their flat, Jon was still up at Castle Black, Rickon was in his room, and his parents had already gone to bed.

Bran wasn’t really paying much attention to the movie. Instead, he was focused on Meera, carding his fingers through her hair. _She’s so beautiful_ , Bran thought. He admired her features, such as the lines of her cheekbones, the softness of her hair, and the smell of her perfume.

She shifted herself so that her head was resting on his lap. Bran allowed her to make herself comfortable, guessing that she was probably tired and needed some rest. It was pretty late, so he would excuse themselves to bed as soon as his eyelids started to feel too heavy to stay open.

That was when it happened.

He was the first one to notice. He didn’t want to say anything, given that both of his sisters were sitting right there, but he knew that Meera would notice it pretty soon anyway – especially given where her head was resting.

And, as if on cue, she looked up at him with wide eyes – like noticing it had fully woken her up.

She stood up immediately, which raised some eyebrows from Sansa and Arya.

“I need to use the toilet”, she tried as an excuse before heading upstairs. On the way, she gave Bran a look which said _bedroom, now_.

“Me too”, Bran said, using one of his crutches to hoist himself up. He could see Sansa trying to suppress a giggle, but Arya didn’t hold back – just straight up snorting at Bran’s weak excuse.

Thankfully neither of them teased him about it. Nevertheless, he walked away as quickly as possible, using his crutches to help him move up the stairs which suddenly felt harder to climb than usual.

It also didn’t help that… well, that he was _hard_. It forced him to bend over at an awkward angle which he was sure that his sisters would tease him about for days.

It didn’t matter, though. It was the first time that he had been able to get hard since before the accident. He wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to finally be with Meera in the way that he’d wanted to for so long.

He practically burst through his bedroom door to the sight of Meera naked in his bed. He almost forgot to close and lock the door, but he remembered just in time right before he leapt into bed with her.

Meera stripped him down, kissing every inch of skin that was revealed by each article of clothing removed. Bran moaned loudly, not caring if his family heard. His sisters were still downstairs, and his parents had a sound-proofed room. So the only person who could hear would be Rickon. Bran didn’t care, though – in that moment he only cared about being with Meera. _Rickon’s probably asleep anyway_ , Bran reasoned. _If we’re being too loud, he can put his headphones in_.

Finally, he was just in his underwear and socks. Meera took a moment to pause. He looked into her eyes, which were asking him if he was sure about this. He nodded, prompting her to slowly pull his underwear down to his knees.

Bran knew that he only had an average-sized cock, but if you had to guess what it was like just by the look on Meera’s face, you’d have guessed that it was the most perfect cock in Westeros.

She wrapped her hand around it, stroking it up and down a few times. Bran threw his head back, allowing himself to enjoy it for a moment.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this”, Meera breathed, making his cock twitch and somehow become harder.

“Uhh, fuck”, was all that Bran managed to get out in response, making Meera laugh.

She moved her hand along his length a few more times before he had to make her stop.

“I… I can’t… I’m… gonna cum too quick”, he stammered out, pulling her hand off of his cock.

Meera smirked in response before bending down and putting her mouth on him.

Bran groaned, moving his hands to the back of her head. She swirled her tongue around the tip, which made him whimper and see stars. He closed his eyes, afraid that if he looked at her then he would cum instantly at the sight of himself in her mouth.

One of her hands grabbed his ass while the other fondled his balls. She hummed against his cock, and the vibrations it sent into him made him go crazy. She bobbed her head back and forth a few times, sucking gently as she did so.

“Meera…”, he moaned.

She stopped for a moment, moving her hands up his body until they reached his face. One hand grabbed his chin while the other cupped one of his cheeks. “I want you to look at me”, she told him, proceeding to move back down to where he was painfully hard.

She licked the tip, tasting the precum which was leaking out. Bran threw his head back and closed his eyes again, but she stopped – forcing him to look at her again before she would continue.

Meera took him in her mouth again. She pressed her hands onto his hips to stop him from bucking into her mouth too hard.

She continued relentlessly, maintaining eye contact with him the whole time.

It didn’t take long for him to cum. When he did, he had to bite down to stop himself from screaming her name. His whole body tensed up as he emptied himself into her mouth.

He’d masturbated before, but this felt so much better. He didn’t think that it was possible for him to cum such a large amount, and every pulse sent a wave of electricity through his body.

She stood up to find a tissue to spit his load into, leaving him lying in his bed. He couldn’t move, and honestly didn’t really want to move. Instead, he waited patiently for her to return.

After a few moments, he felt her weight move onto the bed. She cuddled him from behind, holding him close as she pressed kisses into his back.

“I love you so fucking much”, he said. It wasn’t typical of him to swear, but he couldn’t hold back when the person he loved the most in the world had just done _that_ to him.

She tugged at his shoulder until he turned over so that they were face to face.

“Now you know how good you make me feel whenever you finger me or go down on me”, she replied, kissing him on his forehead.

“We’re gonna do this all the time now”, he said, kissing her and tasting himself on her lips and on her tongue.

“Yeah, we are”, Meera responded, gracing him with one of her perfect smiles.


	24. Like Rabbits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the saying goes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another VERY smutty chapter for you all. There's more like this to come, but there will also be some fluff in later chapters.

The day after they found out that Bran could get hard again, they both went to the shop together to buy lube and condoms.

After that they went to the Reed house, where they knew that both of her parents would be gone for the day while they were at work. Meera briefly spoke to her brother as they walked through the door. Bran couldn’t catch what she’d said to him, but he could easily guess what it was, since Jojen set himself up in the living room with a pair of headphones in his ears.

Meera grabbed his hand and excitedly pulled him up towards her room. The second they closed her door behind them, she pressed him against a wall and started kissing him passionately, hooking one leg around his waist. Bran returned the kiss with equal passion, tugging at her clothes until they were all off.

Bran stepped back, taking off his own clothes with Meera’s help. They both stood there naked, and he was already hard for her.

Meera comically licked her lips without realising it, but Bran didn’t want to ruin the moment by teasing her about it.

“Condom”, she managed to say.

Bran beelined to the shopping bag they’d brought upstairs with them, opening the box of condoms, tearing open a packet and putting one onto his cock. _A 12-pack of condoms. Will that be enough?_ Bran mused. It would certainly last them for at least a few days, but they would definitely need to buy more in the future.

Bran pushed those thoughts from his head, instead focusing on what was happening right now. He went over towards Meera and kissed her again, pushing her towards her bed. When the backs of her legs hit the bed, she fell onto it – pulling Bran down with her. His cock was pressed against her thigh as they deepened the kiss, and Bran had to use all of his willpower to prevent himself from dry humping her leg like a dog.

“I want you”, Meera breathed, scratching her nails softly against his back.

He didn’t need to be told twice. He lined up his cock with her opening, but he paused before going in. He wanted to remember this moment – they would have sex loads of times in the future, but they would only ever have their first times once.

Bran looked at her straight in her eyes and told her. “I love you”.

The desperation and impatience disappeared from Meera’s face when he said that. “I love you too”, she replied, smiling brightly at him. “I’m so happy that we’re finally doing this”.

“Me too”, he breathed, dropping his head down to give her a quick peck on the lips.

He refocused his attention back to where he was about to enter her. His cock was now pressed against her centre, and he rubbed it up and down against her clit, forcing out delicious gasps and moans from her.

“Put it in”, Meera whined, grabbing his ass and trying to pull him closer towards her.

He started slowly, not wanting to hurt her. But when the tip of his cock entered her, he had to immediately pull out.

“I can’t”, Bran groaned. “I’m gonna cum too quick”.

“Don’t worry”, Meera reassured him.

“You won’t be upset?”, Bran questioned.

“No, not at all”, Meera smiled sweetly. “It’s your first time – I’m not expecting you to fuck like a pornstar”, she joked.

“But-”, Bran started.

“Bran, I won’t judge you”, Meera cut in. “I love you, and I won’t care if you cum straight away. If anything, it would be a compliment”, she laughed. “Either way, you’ll get better after we get more experienced at doing this”.

Spurred on by her words, Bran resumed what he was doing. He pressed into her slowly again, filling her up with his cock.

“Ah!”, Meera yelped.

Bran immediately pulled out, cupping her face with his hands. “Are you ok? Did I hurt you? I’m so sorry”, he rambled. He was reminded of the time when he’d first fingered her, and in his eagerness he had hurt her.

“It’s fine, it’s fine”, she answered. “It just hurt a little. Maybe we should use the lube?”.

Bran didn’t hesitate to walk back over to the shopping bag and pick up the lube. He handed it to Meera, who put a couple of drops onto her fingers which she then massaged into and around her opening.

“Ok, let’s try again”, Meera said.

Bran went in again, being extra careful and extremely slow this time, staring at her face for any signs of hurt or discomfort. She stared into his eyes at first, but when he got deeper she closed them tightly, concentrating on the feeling of him inside of her.

Once he was all the way in, he paused and passed his thumbs over Meera’s nipples. Meera reopened her eyes, moving her hands so that they were on top of his. He didn’t move his hips, afraid that if he did so then he would cum straight away.

Meera seemed to read his mind though, as she started to thrust her hips back and forth gently. He froze for a moment, but the pleasure was too good to resist. He moved at her pace, trying his best to match her movements.

After a few seconds, though, it was all over. He held her hips in place as he pulsed inside of the condom.

“Fuuuck!”, he moaned loudly.

Meera was a hot, giggling mess beneath him, working her fingers against her clit as Bran dropped his head down and started sucking hickeys into her neck. It didn’t take long for her to find her own release – moaning his name repeatedly into his ear as she came.

Bran eventually pulled out, taking the condom off, tying it into a knot, and throwing it into the bin.

“We’re gonna do this again”, Bran vowed.

“We’re gonna do this _all the time_ ”, Meera returned.


	25. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some old problems resurface for Meera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this was a hard chapter to write, but I think that it's necessary for these two to fully address their problems before their relationship can develop any further. I won't get into too many details here, but what happens is supposed to represent the repressed feelings that continue to hurt the growth of their relationship. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

The 12-pack of condoms didn’t last very long at all, as Bran had expected. They were having sex 3 or 4 times a day, so they had to make routine visits to the store to buy more at least twice a week. Bran wouldn’t have thought that it was possible to be this horny all of the time, but whenever he so much as thought about Meera now, he would get hard and want to fuck her.

One night they were doing just that. They had just finished and were snuggling together in Bran’s bed at the Stark home. They had the house to themselves, as his parents were at a Stark law firm office party that would go on until late, Arya was at Gendry’s for the night, and Rickon was at a Brotherhood Without Banners concert up in Skagos.

“Are you ready to go again?”, Meera asked him.

“Not yet, just give me a few more minutes”, Bran answered, feeling exhausted from the evening they’d spent together so far. They’d already had sex twice since she came over a couple of hours ago, and Bran only had it in him to go once more tonight. He reckoned that they could go at it one more time when they woke up tomorrow morning as well.

“Ok. By the way, I, um…”, Meera started. “Actually, never mind”.

“What is it?”, Bran pressed, rubbing soft circles into her arms.

“No, don’t worry. It was just something stupid”, Meera insisted.

“Ok”, Bran relented, deciding not to pressure her too much.

Meera opened her mouth again to speak, but nothing came out. She closed it again after a moment, a look of indecision on her face.

“Come on, what is it?”, Bran asked, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“It’s a bit embarrassing…”, she trailed off.

“Hey, we’re in bed naked with each other”, Bran laughed. “You don’t have to worry about saying something embarrassing right now”.

Meera took another moment to ponder what he’d said, but she shook her head.

“Please tell me”, Bran said, giving her his cutest puppy dog eyes.

“Ok, ok. Just promise that you won’t laugh at me”, Meera said.

“I promise”, Bran replied.

“I was wondering if… maybe… you wanted to try anal?”, Meera revealed.

“Anal…?”, Bran echoed.

“Yeah… I’ve heard that guys like it”, Meera went on, shyly looking away from him.

“I don’t want to do anything that you’re not comfortable with”, Bran responded.

“I am”, Meera asserted, looking at him in his eyes confidently, but the redness of her cheeks gave away her embarrassment. “I love you, and I’ve loved having sex with you and exploring our bodies together. I want to make you happy more than anything else”, she carried on, shutting her eyes. “Gods, I love you so fucking much, Bran”, she said, resting her head against his. “I want to make you feel good in any way that I can. I just thought that anal might be a good idea. But we don’t have to do it if you think it’s stupid”.

Bran was speechless. Was she really offering him this out of her own free will? He knew that girls didn’t really like anal because it hurt, but he also knew that it was supposed to feel really good for the guy. He was torn and conflicted. On the one hand, he wanted to take up Meera’s offer, but on the other hand, he never wanted to do anything that might hurt her.

“Only if you’re absolutely certain that you want to do this”, Bran eventually answered.

“Yeah, I want to do it”, Meera assured him.

That was all the confirmation he needed to hear. He picked up a condom and put it on his cock, which was already erect after the conversation they’d just had.

Meera bent over on his bed, putting a pillow below her head and arching her back so that her ass was pointed towards him. Bran had to swallow a moan – pinching himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming.

He grabbed the lube and generously applied into and around her asshole. “Please tell me if it hurts”, Bran told her. “The second you feel uncomfortable, I’ll stop”.

“Sure”, Meera replied.

Bran started very slowly – even slower than when he’d first had sex with her. He tried his best to make sure she didn’t get hurt, but he was quickly lost in the pleasure. _Fuck, it feels so tight_ , he thought as he thrust in further and faster than he meant to. Meera didn’t say anything though, so he continued. When he was all the way in, he realised why guys liked this so much.

He started pounding in and out of her, softly at first but it didn’t take long for him to start hitting it harder. His hips were clapping her ass cheeks while his balls slapped against her cunt as she pressed her face deep into his pillow. He grabbed and squeezed her ass, fucking her as hard as he could.

“Oh, fuck, I’m gonna cum, babe”, Bran moaned loudly.

Seconds later he came hard. It was one of the best orgasms he’d ever had. He collapsed on top of her, taking a minute to catch his breath and regather his wits.

After he pulled out, he took the condom off and threw it away. “Are you ok?”, Bran asked, sitting next to where she was still lying face down on his bed.

She didn’t move, her face still buried into his pillow.

“Hey”, Bran said, shaking her shoulder. Now that he was paying closer attention, he could tell that she was sobbing. “Meera!”, Bran exclaimed, pulling her towards him.

Her eyes were red and puffy, and tears were streaming down her cheeks. Her bottom lip trembled, but not as much as her legs – which were _shivering_.

“Meera!”, Bran cried, hating himself for doing this to her. “Why didn’t you say anything?!”.

“Did it feel good?”, she asked shakily.

“It wasn’t worth it!”, Bran nearly shouted. “I hurt you! You should’ve said something!”, he was shouting now. “I mean, what the fuck Meera?! Look at you! How could you let me do this to you?!”. He didn’t usually get angry, but right now he wanted to punch a hole through his wall.

“Bran, calm down”, Meera whimpered.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!”, Bran retorted, being uncharacteristically loud and angry.

“I deserve this”, Meera whispered. At that, Bran went silent.

“What do you mean?”, Bran questioned, his face softening.

“I deserve to get hurt. I deserve to get shouted at”, Meera said, more tears streaming out of her eyes. “I don’t deserve you”.

“What?”, Bran asked, the confusion and worry thick in his voice.

“It isn’t fair that I get to be with you”, Meera explained. “Gods, I wished for this so much – but then I didn’t protect you”.

“What are you talking about?”, Bran pressed.

“I should’ve stopped you from going down that slope”, Meera continued. “I still blame myself for your accident, Bran”, she revealed. “When I saw you walk again for the first time, I finally _forgave_ myself”, she said, saying _forgave_ like it was a dirty word.

Bran didn’t know what to say yet, so he let her continue.

“And you caught up with all the schoolwork you missed so quickly. It was almost like you hadn’t been in a coma for 6 months”, she laughed sadly. “You slipped back into your life so easily. Who can do that? You’re a special person, Bran. Really. I don’t believe that anyone else could have done what you did. You’re so strong, and so fucking brave”.

He shook his head, ready to deny it, but she cut him off again.

“And I keep thinking to myself: _Bran deserves so much better than me_. Like, why in all seven hells do you choose to be with me when you can do so much better?”, Meera demanded.

Bran tried to retort, but she kept on going.

“I’m just the careless girl who nearly ruined your life, and every time we’re together, I feel guilty for what I did. It feels like I’m taking advantage of you”, she said.

“That’s enough”, Bran cut in softly. The previous edge in his voice was now gone. “It wasn’t your fault, Meera. And don’t talk about yourself like that. If anything, _I_ don’t deserve _you_ ”.

“No-”, Meera began, but Bran carried on.

“You’re the prettiest, smartest, funniest, nicest, and most interesting person I’ve ever met. You’re so _caring_ , and you’re the only person in the world who really understands me and accepts me for all that I am. Seven hells, you even see things in me that I don’t see in myself! I think that I’m a short, skinny, introverted nerd, but when I’m with you I feel like a king”, Bran smiled. “I love you, Meera. I want you to be my girlfriend”, he blurted out. He’d been meaning to ask her for a while, but in that moment it just slipped out.

“Girlfriend…?”, Meera echoed incredulously.

“Yeah, but on one condition”, Bran said. “You stop blaming yourself for my accident, because that shit was all on me. It sucks, but even if you had been there to try and stop me, there was nothing you could’ve done, so stop pretending like things could’ve been different”.

A smile finally broke out on Meera’s face. “You want me to be your girlfriend?”.

“Yes”, Bran returned her smile. He still wasn’t able to stop himself from smiling in response to her beautiful smile.

“I want you to be my boyfriend too”, Meera added.

“Good”, Bran smirked. “It looks like we have something in common, then”, he said, leaning in to kiss her.

She returned the kiss, laughing against his mouth. “My boyfriend”, she declared for just the two of them to hear.


	26. Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A heavy snow hits Winterfell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some more fluff and smut :)

Christmas was now just a few days away. It had begun to snow heavily in Winterfell, but not quite so much that they were at any risk of being snowed in. Nevertheless, they were all in the garden playing in the snow like they used to when they were kids.

Jon was finally back at home for the holidays, so all of the Stark kids – plus Jeyne, Gendry and Meera – were all together in the large back garden.

At first they’d only built a snowman, but then Sansa had suggested that they should build a castle out of snow as well. So, they all got to work on building different sections of their snow castle. It was shaping up to be a huge project – they’d started in the late morning and now it was the early afternoon.

“Kids! I’ve made some hot chocolate for you inside!”, mother called from the house. They all headed straight inside where it was warm and inviting. The fireplace in the living room was roaring with heat, and none of them would turn down a quick break in there with a mug of hot chocolate.

They all perched themselves on the sofa or on the floor with blankets, huddling around the fireplace and sipping their hot chocolates. Bran was snuggled up with Meera on one end of the sofa. She had a thin layer of whipped cream on her top lip, and he had to resist the urge to kiss her there right then in front of his whole family.

Meera was wrapped up in many layers of clothing, but Bran thought that she looked beautiful like this – with her pink cheeks and nose framed by her curls which were being pushed down by her beanie. Bran was holding her hands through their gloves and resting his head against the scarf on her neck. Their skin wasn’t touching at all, but Bran found that this was just as intimate as the times they were cuddled up naked in bed together.

People started to head back outside, but some of them – Bran and Meera included – took an extra minute to warm up further.

“Ready to go, babe?”, Bran asked quietly, kissing her head.

“I’ll see you outside in a minute – I just need to use the toilet first”, she replied.

“Ok”, Bran responded, untangling his arms from around her to allow her to stand up.

When she was gone, Arya came over, smirking. “You’re not following her this time?”, she teased.

Bran was glad that his face was already red from the cold, because he could feel a blush creeping up his neck. “No”, he answered.

“Good, because we need your help outside”, she said.

He followed his sister outside and got back to work on the snow castle. Robb and Jeyne were mysteriously absent – though he could pretty easily guess where they were and what they were doing.

As Bran was putting the finishing touches on one of the towers, he saw Jon standing solemnly by himself off by the side. He decided to go to his cousin and see how he was doing. However, from where Bran had been crouched down, his legs had become painfully stiff and cramped up, so he had to practically crawl over to where Jon was.

“Jon”, Bran said from the ground.

“Hey, Bran”, Jon half-smiled. “What’s up?”.

“I just saw you standing here alone”, Bran answered. “How are you doing?”.

“I’m fine”, Jon replied brusquely.

Bran didn’t want to press, knowing that there were better ways to get Jon to talk about his feelings.

“How’s Dany?”, Bran asked, hoping that he could narrow down on what was bothering his cousin.

“Good”, Jon smiled genuinely this time. “She’s with her family in Dragonstone for Christmas, but she’s coming up here for New Year’s”.

“That’ll be nice”, Bran replied. “How long has it been since you last saw her?”.

“Too long”, Jon sighed. “The last time I saw her properly was before I went up to Castle Black”.

“How has it been up there?”, Bran questioned.

“Cold”, Jon joked.

Bran stayed silent for a moment, sensing that there was more that Jon wanted to say.

“I’ve been spending most of my time beyond the Wall”, Jon told him. “The second I finished my training and became a ranger, Commander Mormont allowed me to go out to search for uncle Benjen”, he revealed.

“Jon-”, Bran began, but was interrupted.

“I wish he was here”, Jon exhaled. “I miss him”.

“I miss him too Jon, but we’ll see him again one day”, Bran said confidently.

“I admire your optimism”, Jon replied sadly.

“He’s still alive”, Bran insisted. At this point, he wasn’t sure if he was trying to reassure himself or Jon.

“It’s hard to survive up there”, Jon shook his head. “You know that better than most people, Bran. I’ve nearly gotten myself killed more than a dozen times up there, and I was being careful and only going out for a few days at a time”.

“Us Starks are tough”, Bran said, reciting what uncle Benjen had told him in the hospital after he’d woken up from his coma. “I’m sure that wherever he is, he’s fine”.

“I hope you’re right”, Jon replied.

“Everything alright, Bran?”, came Meera’s concerned voice.

“Yeah”, Bran responded, looking at his girlfriend who had just come back out to the garden.

“You sure?”, she asked. “Your legs aren’t too stiff?”.

 _I’m fine_ , he was about to say, but he recognised that he could use this as an excuse to go inside with Meera for a bit without raising too many eyebrows. “Actually, now that you mention it, I think I need to go and sit down for a bit”, he answered.

He crawled next to her through the snow towards the house, using what little strength he had left in his legs to move faster. When they reached the back door, Meera told him to wait while she retrieved his crutches. He turned back around to where the others were still working on the snow castle. It was coming together really well, and everyone was now focused on adding little details to different parts of the castle. Well, everyone except Arya – who was looking at Bran with a knowing smirk on her face.

Bran rolled his eyes at her, turning back around to see Meera offering her hand to help him up. They went through the house together. Bran had one arm on a crutch while his other arm was wrapped around Meera’s shoulder.

“What do you want to do?”, Bran asked.

“Well, your parents just went shopping for a bit”, she started. “Robb and Jeyne are… busy in his room”, she put it subtly, but he caught onto what was implied. “And everyone else is outside”, she finished.

Bran smirked, leaning into her neck. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”, he breathed hotly into her skin, playfully nibbling at a hickey there.

“No”, she giggled. “Not quite. I was thinking about maybe having a bath”, she said.

“Oh”, Bran responded, unable to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

“You don’t understand, Bran”, Meera smiled. “I was thinking that _we_ could have a bath. Like, _together_ ”.

“ _Oh_ ”, Bran mimicked himself, sounding much more excited this time.

They headed upstairs together slowly, with Bran having to use Meera’s help to make his way up the steps.

Meera stopped him right outside the bathroom door, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

“What was that for?”, Bran smiled.

“Because you’re amazing”, Meera reflected his smile. “And because I love you”.

“I love you too”, Bran replied, kissing her again.

“Come on, let’s take a bath”, Meera said, cutting off the kiss.

When she opened the bathroom door, Bran was speechless. The bath was already filled with steaming hot water, and the room was decorated with an array of flowers, petals, and scented candles.

Bran gaped at Meera, in disbelief that she would do something like this for him. “Why?”, Bran asked, unable to stop himself from smiling.

“It’s an early Christmas present. Or birthday present, I suppose”, she shrugged, grinning at his reaction. “I’m sad that I won’t be with you on Christmas morning, so I thought we could do this now while we’re both together”.

Bran was sad that he wouldn’t see Meera on Christmas morning too. She would be spending it with her own family at home, and he would be doing the same. They promised that they'd see each other in the evening, though.

“Meera, I… I don’t even know what to say…”, Bran said, feeling the sting of happy tears in his eyes. “Thank you”, he settled with as a start.

“You’re welcome”, Meera giggled, taking his hand and pulling him into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him.

“How did you pull all of this off?”, Bran asked, genuinely curious.

“I had help”, Meera answered, slowly peeling off layers of her clothing.

It took a moment for it to sink in. Bran was taking some of his own clothes off too when he realised. “Robb and Jeyne helped you?”, he asked rhetorically. _Who else could it have been?_ Meera nodded in response, confirming his guess.

When they were both fully stripped down, they each stepped into the bathtub, lowering themselves into the hot water. They started facing towards each other, tangling their legs together. Bran instantly felt more relaxed being in the hot water, sighing as he felt tension being released from his neck and shoulders – and most importantly, also from his legs.

“Was this a good surprise?”, Meera asked, smiling at him.

“This was a great surprise”, Bran answered honestly, leaning forwards to kiss her.

What he’d intended to be a quick kiss ended up being long and languid, with him running his hands all over her naked body as she did the same to him. Eventually her hands found his cock, which was already hard for her. She started to slowly stroke it up and down, deepening the kiss as she did so.

Bran had to pull back after a moment. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this in the bathtub”, he breathed into her mouth.

She ignored him, instead choosing to lower her mouth onto his cock.

“Fuck!”, he moaned, biting down on his tongue so that he didn’t make too much noise.

 _This feels too good_ , Bran worried, not wanting to cum into the bath water.

“Meera…”, he groaned, “…are you going to swallow it?”, he asked. He knew that she normally didn’t like to, but if she was going to do it now then he wouldn’t have to worry about ruining their bath with his cum.

But Meera shook her head playfully, kissing him again.

“But-”, he started to protest, but was silenced when Meera climbed on top of him and inserted his cock inside of her.

He knew that this was wrong – he didn’t want to get her pregnant, but this felt way too good. This was infinitely better than having sex with a condom on, so all Bran could do was throw his head back and enjoy it.

When Meera leaned in and started sucking hickeys into his neck, Bran knew that he was in trouble. “Babe, get off”, he said weakly. “Please, I’m gonna cum”.

“It’s ok, you can cum inside me”, Meera whispered into his ear, gently nibbling on his earlobe. “I’m on birth control now”.

Upon hearing that, Bran lost control and started thrusting into her as hard and fast as he could, splashing bathwater everywhere in the process. One of Meera’s hands went down to massage her clit, while the other was clasped over Bran’s mouth to stop him from making too much noise.

They came at the same time, staring into each other’s eyes as they both found their releases. Bran was coming down off of his high, but Meera was still basking in her afterglow. She kept on kissing his neck, but all he could do was sink lower and lower into the bathtub.

“As early Christmas/birthday presents go, this wasn’t too bad”, Bran teased, giving her a sloppy smile.


	27. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my opinion, this is the best chapter of the story.

Bran was never able to sleep on the night before Christmas. Christmas day was also his birthday, so he was always too excited to fall asleep.

As a result, he was typically the first person awake on Christmas morning. This morning was no different. He was sat next to the Christmas tree in the living room, waiting for everyone else to wake up.

The first person to come downstairs was Arya, who was dressed up in her Christmas onesie that she only ever wore on Christmas day. She excitedly hugged Bran, wishing him a happy birthday and telling him how excited she was to open her Christmas presents.

Next was Gendry, who sat next to Arya on the sofa. Gendry didn’t have a family of his own – his mother died when he was little, and he never knew his father.

Jon was the next person to join them. It was still really early, but Jon told them that being in the military had taught him to wake up early anyway. “My officer would never let us sleep in, even on a holiday”, Jon laughed, his voice still sleepy. Gendry joked that Arya was like a scary army officer when she’d refused to let him lie in this morning.

They stayed there chatting for about an hour or so, and then everyone else started to wake up and join them downstairs. Sansa came first, then Robb and Jeyne, and lastly Rickon arrived just before their parents joined them.

“Are you ready to open your presents?”, mother asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Everyone said yes, and in line with tradition Rickon got to open the first present – as he was the youngest of them. Bran couldn’t remember being the youngest member of the family since he was barely a year old when Rickon was born, meaning that he’d only had one Christmas as the youngest child (excluding the one he was born on).

Bran wasn’t paying much attention to the presents that everyone else was getting, but he was glad as always to see his family so happy together. It was also great to see Jeyne and Gendry enjoying themselves with the Starks. Jeyne was a regular guest of the Starks for Christmases, but this was only Gendry’s second Christmas with them. He’d joined them for Christmas last year when him and Arya had first started seeing each other. Back then, Arya had insisted that they were _“totally not a thing”_ , instead telling them that she only wanted to bring her ‘friend’ over because he never had a family to celebrate Christmas with before. Noone had bought that excuse except for their parents – but they quickly realised that there was something more going on between their daughter and Gendry when they caught the two of them making out beneath the mistletoe.

Bran had relentlessly teased her about that for a week, he remembered. _I guess it serves me right that she teases me about Meera all of the time now_ , he laughed to himself.

The presents he received from his family were all decent. He mostly got given clothes or books. He didn’t mind, though – he knew that he was a hard person to buy presents for since he never really wanted anything.

When they were all done, Bran excused himself to his room for a minute. He picked up his phone and called Meera.

“Merry Christmas!”, Meera’s voice came from the other end of the line.

“Merry Christmas, babe!”, Bran replied. “How’s your day been so far?”.

“Great! We’ve just finished opening our presents”, she told him.

“Same here”, Bran said.

“Did you get what you wanted?”, she asked.

“Not yet”, Bran answered, hoping that the meaning of his words was conveyed properly over the phone.

“I can’t wait to see you later too”, she responded, confirming that she understood what he had meant.

“I’ll come to yours after we’ve finished dinner”, Bran told her.

“Sounds good, see you soon!”, she replied.

“Love you”.

“Love you too”.

Bran hung up, heading back downstairs to join his family. Sansa and Jeyne were watching a Christmas movie in the living room while mother was working on dinner in the kitchen.

Christmas movies weren’t really his thing, so he decided to go into the kitchen.

“Hi, Bran”, mother said to him as he walked in.

“Do you need any help with anything?”, Bran asked politely.

“No, thank you”, mother replied. “Maybe later, though. Enjoy yourself for now – it is your birthday after all”, mother smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“What’s up?”, Bran asked when he saw tears welling up in his mother’s eyes.

“Nothing”, mother answered, caressing his cheek. “I’m just so proud of you, Bran. The day you were born was such a gift. You were the best Christmas present ever”, she said. “And now look at you! You’re nearly a man now. You’ve come so far and been through so much. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I made something so perfect”.

Bran didn’t really know how to respond to that, so he just settled with. “I love you. You’re the best mother in the world”.

“I try my best”, mother accepted humbly.

“Where are the others, by the way?”, Bran asked.

“Your father is in the garden with the boys and Arya”, mother answered. “Go and join them for a bit”.

“Ok”, Bran responded, heading outside into the garden. The snow castle they’d built the other day was still there, although some of the features had worn away.

Bran joined them for a while, doing all sorts of things with them in the snow. They made snow angels, had a snowball fight, and made another snowman next to the one they’d made the other day.

They headed inside in the late afternoon, welcoming the cups of tea that mother made for them. They all sat by the fireplace playing games while they waited for dinner to finish cooking.

It didn’t take long for it to be ready. They all sat at the table, serving themselves turkey, pigs in blankets, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce and some other vegetables. They each had a glass of eggnog as well as a mug of mulled wine with dinner. It was a lovely dinner, made even better by the desserts that mother brought out at the end – mince pies, a yule log, and a Christmas pudding set alight with brandy. By the end of the meal, Bran was stuffed and felt content to stay in his seat for a while longer. They all competed over some Christmas crackers while they enjoyed their post-Christmas dinner coffees. Bran had rarely ever felt happier than he did in this moment. The only thing that would make it better would be if Meera was here with him, but he understood that she wanted to spend the day with her own family as well.

People were slowly starting to disperse now. Father was asleep on the sofa while Jon and Sansa helped mother clear up. Rickon had headed up to his room, and the others were all back outside together. Bran decided that now was a good time for him to go and visit Meera.

He told his mother that he was heading out for a while, then proceeding to put a coat over his Christmas jumper, putting on his boots, and heading out of the house with a small bag that had his gifts for the Reeds in it.

It was a short but slippery walk to the Reeds. Their house wasn’t far from the Stark mansion, but the streets were all covered in snow and ice, which forced Bran to walk slowly to make sure that he didn’t slip. He was especially worried because he hadn’t brought his crutches with him, so if he slipped then he might not be able to get back up.

Thankfully, he managed to make it to theirs without any mishaps. An impressive achievement, given that he was already a little bit tipsy from all that he’d been drinking earlier.

He rang the doorbell, and it was Meera who answered. He pulled her in for a kiss, which she was more than happy to return.

“Merry Christmas”, she smiled against his mouth.

“Merry Christmas”, he replied, smiling as well.

He then went to embrace Jojen, wishing him a merry Christmas too.

“Where are your parents?”, he asked them.

“Just visiting the neighbours”, Jojen answered.

Bran nodded, reaching into his bag. He grabbed the Tupperware box which had the weed brownies he’d made for Jojen in it, handing it to his friend with a wink, hoping that Meera wouldn’t suspect anything. “Merry Christmas”, he said to his friend.

“Thanks”, Jojen replied with a knowing smile. “I’ve got you a present too, but I’ll, um… give it to you later”, he said. Bran caught onto the hint, knowing that the present wasn’t something that he could give to Bran in front of Meera.

“Hello, Brandon”, came a voice from behind him. Bran turned around to see Meera’s father standing there covered in snow, clearly having just walked through the front door.

“Mr Reed”, Bran greeted politely.

“Please, call me Howland”, Howland replied, offering his hand for Bran to shake.

Bran shook his hand firmly. “I have a present for you and Jyana”, he said, handing him the expensive bottle of wine he’d bought for them after Meera had told him that it was their favourite.

“Thank you, Brandon”, Howland thanked. “You didn’t have to get us anything”.

“It’s ok”, Bran replied with a smile, reaching out for Meera’s hand and giving it a squeeze when she held his hand. "And please, call me Bran".

After a few more pleasantries with Meera’s parents, they were able to excuse themselves upstairs for a bit.

“You should hang out with Jojen for a bit”, Meera told him. “I still have to wrap your present”.

“You got me another present?”, Bran asked. “I thought that letting me cum inside you was the only present I was getting”, he said with a playful smirk.

He heard an awkward cough behind him. Bran froze, praying to all of the gods that it was Jojen behind him and not one of their parents. He slowly turned around, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that it was, in fact, Jojen, but he still couldn’t get rid of the blush that was now on his face. Jojen’s face was red too, obviously wishing that he hadn’t heard that. Meera, on the other hand, was at least able to find the humour in the situation, laughing at both of their expenses.

“Yeah, um… let’s go to my room”, Jojen broke the silence.

They awkwardly walked to his room, choosing not to talk about what had just happened.

“Anyway, so… here’s your present”, Jojen said, not able to look Bran in the eye.

“Thanks”, Bran responded quickly, taking the small present from Jojen’s hand. He tore open the wrapping paper, revealing a box on the inside. He opened the box to find a little bottle of CBD oil. “Thanks!”, Bran thanked, sounding much more genuine this time, pulling his friend in for a hug.

“No problem”, Jojen replied, hugging him back. “And thanks for the present you got me too”.

There was a knock on the door, so Bran quickly put his present into his bag.

“Come in”, Jojen called.

Meera walked through the door. “Your present’s ready”, she said to Bran.

Bran stood up and followed her to her room. He resented the fact that Jojen probably thought that they were ditching him to go and have sex. That wasn’t necessarily true, but to be fair Bran still didn’t know what her present for him was.

He was pleasantly surprised to see a present sitting on her bed when he walked into her room with her. He opened it, revealing a collection of creams, salves, and sprays.

“They’re supposed to help your muscles to relax”, Meera explained. “I thought they’d be good for your legs, when they get stiff or cramped up”.

“Thank you”, Bran spoke, his voice cracking at the end. “I love you”, he whispered. Meera was beaming at him, happy that he was pleased with his gift. Bran cleared his throat before saying, “here’s your present”.

He handed her a small present along with a card. She opened the card first, rolling her eyes and giving him a smile after she read it. _Meery Christmas_ is what was written on it. He knew that it was a shitty pun, but he couldn’t resist.

She opened the present next, gasping when she saw what it was. He had compiled a photo album as a present for her, finding a book which you could put photos into. He’d spent hours looking through his phone and through all of her social media to find all of the photos of them together. He then printed them all off and put them into the book, hoping that she would like it and hopefully add to it in the future as they got more photos of themselves together.

“Bran, this is amazing!”, she squealed, pulling him in for a kiss. “You’ve actually managed to outdo yourself”, she said, happy tears running down her cheeks.

Bran held her face, running his thumbs across the wet trails that her tears left. “The longer we’re together…”, he started, swallowing down his nervousness which threatened to cut off his voice, “…the more I realise that you’re the love of my life. I don’t want to be with anyone else”, he confessed. “I can’t imagine a future where I’m not with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, because I love you more than anything. To me, _you_ are all that matters, and I’ll do everything that I can to make you happy”.

“Bran-”, Meera breathed.

“I love you”, he said. For some reason, he felt like he meant it more this time than any of the other times he’d said it to her before.

“I love you too”, she responded with the same devotion in her voice.


	28. New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran and Meera welcome the new year together.

It was New Year’s Eve, and the Stark mansion was now even more populated with friends and guests. They always threw great parties for New Year’s at their home, so it wasn’t difficult to convince people to come over.

A lot of Robb’s childhood friends were over, such as the Karstark brothers, Alys Karstark and her new boyfriend Sigorn, her ex Daryn Hornwood who was now dating Dacey Mormont, as well as a few others – Robin Flint, Donnel Locke, Wendel Manderly, Owen Norrey, and Smalljon Umber. By far, Robb had invited the most guests (as was the case for most of the years that they held these parties).

Jon had just invited his childhood friends Pyp and Grenn, his best friends from uni, Sam and Gilly, as well as Edd who was one of his friends in the military that he had met at Castle Black. Dany had come up to Winterfell for New Year’s as well, as Jon had promised a couple of weeks ago.

Sansa had brought over her childhood friends Jeyne Poole and Beth Cassel who lived in their neighbourhood, so it wasn’t too far for them to come over. A couple of her uni friends – Mya Stone and Myranda Royce – had also come up to Winterfell to celebrate with them.

Arya was here with Gendry, but they were also with their friends Lommy and Hot Pie.

Rickon hadn’t invited anyone over, and as usual Bran had just invited Jojen and Meera. Robb had more friends from uni that he would’ve liked to have invited, but they lived way too far away to make it to Winterfell, instead choosing to stay and celebrate the New Year where they lived. Bran was relieved that they didn’t come, to be honest. There was already over 30 people in their house, which was crowded enough in his opinion.

The party was well underway downstairs, but Bran and the Reed siblings were just chilling in Bran’s room for a while. They would head downstairs when it came closer to midnight, but at the moment it was only 11pm, so they would wait in his room for a bit longer before heading down.

Bran and Jojen had a tradition of smoking weed together on New Year’s Eve, but they were foregoing it tonight because of Meera’s presence. Bran was a little bit upset about that. He really enjoyed those times when him and Jojen would climb onto the roof of the Stark mansion and get high together beneath the stars, watching the fireworks together as the clock struck midnight.

They had skipped their tradition last year as well because Jojen had been ill and was therefore unable to make it to the Starks’ New Year’s party. Bran hadn’t complained too much about that though, because it had given him the chance to kiss Meera for the first time when the New Year countdown had hit zero.

The three of them were idly chatting in his room for a bit, listening to the faint sounds of people talking as well as music coming from downstairs. They had half a dozen tinnies to share between the three of them, so they were getting pleasantly buzzed together in his room.

This was nice, and Bran didn’t care that he was missing out on whatever was going on downstairs. His eldest siblings could get especially rowdy during their New Year’s parties. Things would get particularly wild as it approached midnight, since that was when Robb and Jon would raid their parents’ liquor cabinet and start playing drinking games with their friends.

“We should probably head down soon”, Meera said, checking her watch. Bran looked at his own watch, seeing that it was quarter to midnight now.

“I’m gonna head outside for some… fresh air”, Jojen told them. _I know what that means_ , Bran smirked to himself, only a little bit jealous of his friend in that moment. “I’ll see you down there in a bit”.

“Sure, see you”, Bran replied, watching his friend leave his room.

The second that the door closed behind Jojen, Meera started kissing Bran’s neck.

“Seven hells, babe”, Bran muttered. “You’ve been waiting for this all night, haven’t you?”.

He felt Meera nod against his neck, licking one of the hickeys that she had left there the last time she’d had sex with him, which was admittedly not too long ago.

“Want to have a quickie before we head downstairs?”, Bran asked hopefully.

“No”, Meera replied. Bran felt his heart sink, but then Meera turned his face so that he was looking at her. “I want you to fuck me into the New Year”, she smirked seductively. Bran could already feel himself growing hard at her words. It was weird to think that it had been less than a month ago when he’d first gotten hard for her, and now they had sex so much and so often that it just felt _normal_.

Bran started kissing her, helping her to undress while he did so. His experience was beginning to show whenever they had sex now. He was less wild and careless, and his hands were now more controlled and delicate on her body. His mind got less foggy when she kissed him, and he was able to last longer in bed with her compared to when they first started and he could only last a handful of seconds.

When she was fully naked, he crawled down her body, leaving a trail of hot, wet kisses against her skin. He finally reached her centre, giving her a few playful licks there before focusing his tongue on where she needed it most.

“Fuck, babe”, Meera moaned. “You’re so good at that”.

Spurred on by her words, he inserted a finger into her opening, drawing a delightful moan from her lips.

“Everybody get ready!”, he heard Arya’s voice coming from downstairs. _It must nearly be midnight_ , he realised.

He stopped what he was doing, moving up so that his cock was lined up with Meera’s opening.

“You ready?”, he asked her.

“Yeah”, she replied breathily, her eyes fluttering for him.

He pushed in, losing himself in the feeling of being inside her. No matter how many times they had sex, this would never stop feeling like all seven heavens.

He was thrusting into her slowly at the start, but when he heard people counting down from 10 downstairs, he picked up his pace.

**10…**

**9…**

**8…**

**7…**

**6…**

**5…**

**4…**

**3…**

**2…**

**1…**

When the countdown hit zero, Bran came as hard as he could, screaming Meera’s name at the top of his lungs. Thankfully the noise of people cheering downstairs drowned out the sound of his own voice.

Meera caressed him all over his body while he recovered from his orgasm.

“I think…”, Bran started, pausing to catch his breath, “…that was the best way to start a new year”.


	29. Raven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran finally asks Meera something that he's been wanting to ask her for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The penultimate chapter! So close to the end now D:

They had less than a week together left before Meera would head back down south to KLU. Bran had enjoyed the month they’d spent together so far – especially the last few weeks of having sex with each other every day. But now he wished that he had appreciated that time more.

There was still a question that he really wanted to ask her before she left, and today was the day when he finally had enough courage to ask her.

“Meera”, Bran started, stroking her belly from where she was sat in his lap on his bed.

“Mm”, Meera hummed.

“I want to ask you something”, Bran stated.

At that, Meera sat up and turned around to give him her full attention. Sometimes it was easy to forget, but these small gestures reminded Bran why he loved her so much. She always respected him and listened to him, even though most other people didn’t see him as someone worthy of their time.

“I was wondering if… maybe… you wanted to… smoke with me?”, he got out slowly, gauging her reaction. As far as he was concerned, Meera didn’t know anything about his and Jojen’s weed-smoking habits. He had no reason to believe that she would react badly to it, but it was still a nerve-wracking proposition to put forward.

Unexpectedly, Meera laughed. _That’s probably the last reaction that I was expecting_ , Bran thought to himself, raising an eyebrow at her.

“I didn’t think that it would take you this long to ask me”, Meera smirked.

Bran felt his face flush. “You… you knew? All this time?”, he questioned.

“I’m not an idiot, Bran”, Meera rolled her eyes, “you and Jojen are, like, the biggest stoners ever. Everyone knows”.

Bran comically gaped at her, not knowing what to say. His cheeks were now definitely bright red from embarrassment.

Meera took pity on him, leaning in for a kiss. When she pulled back, she told him, “of course I’d like to smoke with you, Bran”.

Bran smiled, grateful that her reaction was pretty good overall. He still couldn’t believe that she knew all this time, though. _Perhaps me and Jojen haven’t been as discreet as we think we are_ , Bran laughed at his own expense.

They prepared to smoke together, wanting it to be a special experience that they would remember in the future. Meera insisted that they should go back to the weirwood tree in the woods where they’d had their first date together, saying that it would be nice to get high in nature. Bran agreed, knowing that it wasn’t too far away either. Him and Jojen had smoked there once, and it had been a pretty good experience. _It hadn’t been in the middle of winter, though_ , Bran thought. They’d have to wrap up pretty warm if they were gonna go there today.

Bran fetched a pre-rolled joint he had in his drawer, deciding that they could share one between the two of them. He also grabbed a bottle of water in case they got thirsty.

They headed outside once they were ready, telling his parents that they were just heading into Wintertown for a bit. Walking helped to fend off the cold on the way to the weirwood tree, but when they got there and sat down on a tree stump, Bran could feel the cold air seep through his clothes and into his bones.

“Maybe we should start a small campfire”, Meera said, as if she was listening to his thoughts.

“Yeah, good idea”, Bran breathed, steaming the cold air in front of his mouth.

Meera borrowed his lighter, grabbing some twigs and branches from the trees surrounding them. She lit up an old receipt she had in her pocket to start the fire, arranging the small bits of wood over it so that they would catch alight. The ground was still covered in snow, but less so than it had been for the past couple of weeks. The snow castle that they’d all built in their back garden was now melted into the ground.

“Should we start?”, Meera asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Sure”, Bran replied, taking the joint from his pocket and lighting it up.

He took the first few drags before handing it over to Meera.

“Make sure that you inhale”, Bran instructed her, suppressing his giggle when she started coughing.

“It tastes kinda funny”, Meera remarked, taking another drag. She coughed less the second time, but Bran still handed her the bottle of water so that she could clear her throat.

Bran took the joint back, enjoying it for another minute before handing it back to her.

He could already feel himself getting a little bit high. He could tell that he wasn’t sober anymore because he was watching and admiring Meera’s face more than he usually did. He wondered what it would be like to have sex with her while they were both high. He’d heard on the internet that sex while high was way better, and he wanted to test whether that theory was true or not.

“Meera-”, he began.

When she looked at him, Bran had to stifle a laugh. Her eyes were red, and her mouth was slightly parted. She looked like the textbook definition of someone who was high.

“I want to kiss you”, he whispered, cupping her face.

Meera took one last drag from the joint before leaning in and blowing the smoke into his mouth. He deepened the kiss, dragging his tongue across her lips before sliding it into her mouth. She returned the kiss, tangling her tongue with his. This kiss lacked the usual energy and passion that they'd come to associate their kisses with, but rather it was slow and sensual – erotic but in a new kind of way.

Bran didn’t know how long they’d been kissing for, but he didn’t care. With her pressed against him like this, kissing him like there was nothing better to be doing right now in the whole world, he quickly forgot how cold it was and instead was focused on the warmth that being with Meera made him feel.

They pulled apart to breathe for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes. Meera’s pupils were dilated, turning the shade of her eyes into a dark green. Bran imagined that his own eyes probably sparkled with a shade of dark blue.

Bran stroked Meera’s hair with both of his hands, never realising how soft it could feel. Meera similarly carded her fingers through his short hair. He remembered when it was really long for those months after he’d woken up from his coma, but he’d cut it after Meera had told him to. _I’d do anything for her_ , Bran realised. He wanted to show her how much he loved her, and he knew the best way how to accomplish that.

Bran shifted and directed Meera so that she was lying down on the tree stump. He moved down so that his face was between her legs. “Is this ok?”, Bran asked.

“Yeah”, Meera breathed in response.

Bran unbuttoned and unzipped the jeans she was wearing, tugging them down until they were below her knees. He then proceeded to do the same with her panties, pulling them down until they were resting at the bottom of her thighs.

He took a moment to appreciate the sight and smell of her centre before he ran his tongue up and down it a few times. He then pressed a finger into her opening while her worked his tongue against her clit.

“I need more”, Meera whined above him, rubbing soothing circles into his neck.

He added another finger, continuing to push into her while he ate her out.

“No, _more_ ”, Meera said.

Bran understood what she meant, pulling his own jeans and underwear down until they were both pooled at his feet. Meera also pulled her own clothes down so that she could stretch out a bit more.

Bran entered her slowly, enjoying the feeling of being inside of her more than he usually did. _So it’s true_ , Bran thought to himself, smiling. _Sex while high is way better_. He hardly moved at all while he was inside of her, but Meera was still seeming to enjoy this more than usual.

“I’m going to marry you one day”, Bran promised her, pressing his face into her neck. He could feel her shudder beneath him as he slowly moved inside of her. “We’ll get married here in front of the weirwood tree, just like they used to back in the old days when people still worshipped the Old Gods”.

“Are you proposing to me?”, Meera asked. Bran couldn’t tell if that question was hopeful or scared.

“No, not yet”, Bran answered, kissing her neck. “I want to wait until I’ve finished uni first”.

“But that’s over 4 years away, Bran”, Meera sighed, holding his head and stroking his short auburn curls.

“I know”, Bran said. “But I also know that I want to be with you forever”. He pushed himself up and looked into her eyes. “There’s no-one else in the world who I’d rather be with”.

Meera was silent for a moment, and Bran thought that he’d fucked up by confessing his feelings to her.

“Me too”, she finally responded, making him let out a sigh of relief. “We _will_ get married someday, Bran”, she vowed. “Just not yet. We’re still too young, and we’ve only been together for half a year”.

Bran felt like he was on top of the world. He started pumping into her with more eagerness, and it didn’t take long for him to cum.

He stayed inside of her, lying down on top of her while he caught his breath. She continued to hold him tenderly and kiss his head.

 _I could stay here like this forever_ , Bran thought, but he knew that he had to go home soon. The sun would eventually set, and the little campfire they’d made was starting to burn out. They wouldn’t want to get caught out here when it got too cold.

“I love you”, Meera whispered into his head.

 _Just a few more minutes_ , Bran thought, closing his eyes and feeling himself drift to sleep.


	30. A Year On (Epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran reflects on the past year since his accident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are! The final chapter! I hope that this is a satisfying conclusion to this story :)

It had now been exactly a year since his accident. It was weird to think about it that way, especially because he’d spent half of that year in a coma, but it was true.

Meera had gone back to KLU, so Bran was by himself in Winterfell again. He sorely wished that she was here right now – even more so than usual. Today was a difficult day, and he was in desperate need of her company.

But she was hundreds of miles away and probably busy with some assignment. He didn’t want to bother her or waste her time by calling her either, so he just stood by himself in his back garden, watching the world go by in front of him while he pondered over his past year.

If someone had told him six months ago, after he’d woken up from his coma, that he’d be able to walk normally again, then he probably would’ve cried. Yet here he was – standing on his own two feet in his back garden, listening to the birds singing and feeling the cold winter air on his skin. Bran had to admit to himself that this was a great, liberating feeling.

So much more had happened over the course of the past year. For starters, him and Meera were finally together. _And in love_ , Bran smiled to himself, feeling his heart swell with warmth and affection for his girlfriend.

If Bran could do it all again, he wouldn’t change a thing. He would give up both of his legs forever if it meant that he could always be with Meera. She was now the most important person in the world to him. _Maybe even more important than myself_ , Bran mused. He didn’t think a lot of himself, which was partly due to a lack of self esteem after being bullied a lot at school throughout his childhood.

But Bran also knew that he wasn’t special either. He wasn’t tall and strong like Robb or Jon. Seven hells, even Rickon was now taller and more muscular than Bran now. Bran also wasn’t particularly handsome or charming. In fact, most people would call him boring and nerdy. _But not Meera_ , Bran thought, his smile widening. No, Meera thought the world of him. Not only did she find him attractive, but she also loved him for those little things which he hated about himself. She was always supportive of everything he did, and more importantly she _cared_ about him. There’s nothing in the world that feels better than caring about someone who cares just as much about you.

Bran didn’t want to lose that. He _couldn’t_ lose that. He finally understood why Meera was still so upset about his accident. If something like that had happened to her, and he felt even somewhat responsible for it, then he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

Meera meant everything to him, and his life was so much better for it. They’d shared so many firsts together – first kisses, first dates, first times. Bran had been told that he should try out these experiences with more people before settling down with one, but he didn’t want this with anyone else. He wasn’t worried about their love dying out either. If Robb and Jeyne could last this long having only ever been with each other, then him and Meera could do it too.

_Yes_ , Bran thought, _I’ll love her forever_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then he woke up! Just kidding -- that would be too cruel.
> 
> Well, here we are! This story is over, but I've decided that this universe will go on. I'm going to write other fics for the relationships of the other Stark kids, which will cover key periods of their lives (over the course of 30 chapters or so). My hope is that someday soon, all of these stories will come together for one large mega-fic. It's probably too far away to think about now, but I want this all to culminate in an ambitious 100-chapter project.


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